Tour Journal

2008-05-29T21:04:00.001-04:00

I love California. Not LA, but California as a whole. I think I will live somewhere here sometime in life. More later...

2008-05-22T19:30:00.002-04:00

I'm Alive!

I have really neglected this page forever.

That being said, I'd like to congratulate Pete and Jess, and MB and Tieds on the arrivals of Dylan and Natalie into this world! I can't wait to get home and see them in person. I'll be home a month from tomorrow for good, and I really can't wait.

I've been getting into Frisbee Golf lately, and it's alot of fun. My best score so far is a +7 on a 9 hole course. I shot 18 out here in the desert in Arizona in Monday and shot a terrible +19. The triple bogey on 5 and throwing my putter in the water on 9 really killed me. I did make the best shot of my short career though, nailing a putt on 16 on my knees from under a tree about 20 feet away. The past 2 weeks we were in Houston and there was a park with a course directly behind our hotel. Since it's free to play, it's nice to have it so close so there's no "cost" involved with taking a cab there, like there is here. I probably won't get to play again this week, as rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. The weather is just crazy here in Tempe. It was 106 the first 2 days when we got here and today it's 65.

Also saw the midnight screening of Indiana Jones last night, and I won't give any spoilers, but I was very disappointed. The first 1/3rd of the movie was classic Indy, great cinematography, great sequences and everything. But once the plot got set into motion, I understand why Speilberg didn't give anyone a broad sense of what the movie was about. What really makes me upset is all the reports I had read about how they kept rejecting scripts. But after seeing the film, there HAD to be a better story to choose than this. I know that this is Steven and George's love of their childhood movies come to life, but it just didn't feel like an Indiana Jones story to me. Enjoyable, but nowhere near the hype that it had been built up to. If this is indeed the swan song for Indiana Jones, I feel sad.

That's all that's going on for now. Peace out from Arizona.

First Try!

2008-01-16T16:15:00.001-05:00

This is just a test, seeing if I can post to my blog via my Mac's Dashboard. Hopefully it will work, and it will curb my laziness in updating about my life.

2007-03-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

Vancouver

So I'm a little behind with my reporting, laziness has ensued again. Vancouver is hands down the best place that I've been to on tour in the last year and a half. The city itself is beautiful, kinda like a less crowded Manhattan at times. Lots to do, enthusiastic audiences, beautiful sights, and a casino 3 blocks away. Let's just skip to the poker.

They have morning tournaments every day for $30 so I played in the Wed. morning one and did quite terribly, something like 38th out of 66 or something. Played some side games for a little while made $300 or so, then went back to the hotel. Then I did some sightseeing around the riverwall downtown.
I wish the bottom translation was easier to read. It says "You Not Afraid Here". Which I thought was appropriate as Vancouver is full of Asians that moved here after it was given back to China I believe (maybe Hong Kong...)

Played a bunch more poker, including the next morning making the final table and busting 6th out of 40 ppl. No money, as I was the bubble boy. Was going to play in more side games, but got a txt message from Colin informing me that Lingerie Lunch was happening in our hotel. I had no idea what to expect...

When I got there, I met up with the other straight guys in the show and we made our way to the restaurant. Lingerie lunch is held the last Thursday of every month and it's a competition with 6 girls who walk around the restaurant in bikinis, and very loosely "evening wear". The men all applaud them as they come around and are then "judged" and whittled down to 3. It was kinda a great day, scantily clad women, poker, beer, and chicken fingers all before 1:30.

Will and Erin came on Friday and I met up with them after the show. They've already put up a nice report on their website www.willschwarz.com.

We left on Monday morning, extremely early, about 430am to make an early flight to Saskatoon. I played poker all night and then hopped on the bus to the airport, up for the week $870 winner (including tournament losses, yes tieds). A good couple of weeks in the poker front, could it continue into Saskatoon? Or would I have a losing week? Time will tell in the next blog report. And that will hopefully be soon.

2007-03-08T13:51:00.000-05:00

Feeling Better

Ok, where to begin.

2 weeks ago, we were in lovely Edmonton, AB. I didn't think I'd believe it, but they did indeed have the largest mall in all of North America. Suck on that Minneapolis! It was around 8 blocks long I think and boasted a rollercoaster (more on that in a minute), sea lion show, water park, and Urban Outfitters. Well, the rollercoaster was quite impressive for being next to a food court. Our group went on and halfway through on a piece of flatland about 50 feet in the air, the ride suddenly stopped...Turns out Aaron, one of our trumpet players, had decided to film the ride with his digicam and security was on to us. They harnessed a woman onto the track, and she climbed up to remove the camera from the ride. In all fairness, they were very nice about the whole thing and didn't even delete the footage. I'll try and post the video if I can get my hands on it.

It was then onto lunch where I realized that Canadians are very confused about American cuisine. KFC does not include biscuits here in the Great White North! Scandalous! Also, they have a Boston Pizza (which I don't believe they're famous for) and New York Fries (which again, I've never heard of the triumphs of fries in NY). Bizzare.

They also have a casino in the mall too. Fairly nice as well. There were picketers outside of the entrance that were former casino workers who wanted more stuff. I didn't really listen as I just wanted to play poker. There was no game going on, so I just wandered around for a while and chilled out. Met up with some people by the Urban Outfitters and found a jacket for $180, marked down to $100, and then take 75% off. 25 CAD for the jacket! ($22.63 on my credit card receipt.)

Walked by the ice skating rink, oh yeah forgot to mention a full size ice skating rink in the mall too. The place is sick. Went to the water park, but 40% of the rides were closed, so only having 90 minutes left in the mall made that not the smartest move. Aaron almost went bungee jumping but that didn't pan out either. We then passed by Flamingo Bay, nothing happens, just flamingos hanging out inside a glass wall.

This was connected to a large tank of water with a Pirate theme.

The sea lion show was next to this and ran 2 shows a day. We watched the show and I was pretty impressed with what sea lions can do. I had videos, but somehow lost them. After that I got a haircut and went back to the casino, still no game. Met up with people and went home. Fun day all around.

Did I mention I played poker?

Been a long time since I've typed that. Admittedly, off my game the first session back in a 3 months, but the game was different!

In Edmonton, boy do they love to play Omaha. In fact the 1/2 NL game was not just NLHE. It was "dealer's choice" meaning you the button picks, and you can choose from HE, Omaha, Pineapple or Crazy Pineapple! 95% of the hands were Omaha, (NL Omaha, mind you...crazy), and I occasionally chose HE when I realized people saying, "How can you play with just 2 cards?" and just muck like crazy. In about 3 hours, I was stuck $800 playing 1/2 NL. Those are the swings of NL Omaha I guess. I came back and finished only $165 down after playing some big pots and having things go my way. My big hand was flopping the nut straight and getting check raised by a guy with top pair, no redraw whatsoever, just top pair. Thankfully he missed perfect perfect after we stuck it in on the flop.

The next night I went back and played more of the same, winning $185. Things got interesting the next 2 days when I went back to play inbetween our 2 show days. I ended up killing the game playing 1/2 NL on Saturday and 4/8 with a kill on Sunday. In the 4.5 hours I played, I ended up $1040 winner. It was sad to leave, but it was time to go to Vancouver! Most definitly the best place I've been on tour so far. More pictures and poker in the next blog entry.

2007-03-05T20:54:00.001-05:00

Updates

Canada posts and pictures will be updated tomorrow. I'm not feeling well today. Time for 24, pizza and bed.

2007-02-22T15:57:00.000-05:00

Brrrr

Canada is cold, and far away. I've realized it's just like America, but everyone's nicer on the whole. Even the plane was nicer aesthetically. Weird. I spent a nice couple days in NY with Karen, and left far too soon for me. But, it's back to work, the show must go on, whatever other cliches you can think of. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to go to the Edmonton Mall, supposedly the 2nd biggest mall in North America. I've heard rumors of a water park, sea lion show, rollercoaster, flamingos, and an Urban Outfitters. Should be fun. Pics as they become available...

2007-02-19T23:21:00.000-05:00

Some quick pictures...

My nephew Colin, playing the drums in Akron, OH like his big uncle...

Me outside during our snow day in Springfield Il. Aaron (2nd Tpt player) got a new pocket trumpet with LSU colors. It should be noted that this was after 5 beers or so. It should also be noted that this was taken by my new LGenV cell phone.

2007-02-19T11:25:00.000-05:00

Back in NY

Well, for a day. I'm in Queens in Karen's apartment for the day, let me explain. Our Sunday evening show was canceled and we don't have a show till Wednesday night in Edmonton, AB. (Canada) So I decided to come back and hang out for a day and then fly to Canada tomorrow night to get in just after 1am on Wed. morning. We had a good weekend in Aurora, didn't see Wayne and Garth though, sadly. I also found out that Will and Erin will be coming to see me in Vancouver next weekend which is pretty exciting. Maybe he can smuggle a copy of Windows Vista over the border for me.

Karen came and visited this weekend, which she had quite a terrible travel day. She usually travels standby on Delta but because of the weather delays it didn't look good to travel without a ticket. She ended up buying an expensive one way ticket that connected through DC, then Detroit before landing in Chicago. It turns out that she would have gotten 1st class on the standby flight, and EVERY one of her flights were delayed, resulting in her getting to Chicago at 2am. Oh, and they lost her luggage. It was a disaster of a day, but it didn't ruin our weekend.

Well, I'm off to run out and get some lunch with my brother, then get some pizza tonight and watch some 24. I won't be using my phone for 3 weeks after tomorrow, because of the Canada ripoff plan. So, see ya on MySpace!

2007-02-14T12:02:00.000-05:00

Ok, This Is Ridiculous

So, I started this blog thing to keep people updated on my life, but now never update it. Granted, my worst trait is maybe my procrastination, but I'm about to make a change on blogging. We'll see if anyone still reads it, but it'll give me something to do when I'm bored.

The main inspiration for my resurgence to the blogosphere would be Jovan's blog about his new experience on the "Spamalot" tour. Im genuinely excited about reading about a bigger tour than mine and hearing other stories from the road. Definitely check it out if you like theater talk.

Ok, let's talk TV. Lost started again thank god, and 24 had a sweet 2 hour episode this past week. The Office is consistently the funniest show on TV, even though I wanted to hate it, loving the BBC original and all. But my new fix has been, oddly enough, a poker show.

Poker After Dark on NBC is right up there with High Stakes Poker as being the best show on television in that field. HSP lets you in to how a cash game is played, for the first time on TV, so now people can see how to play before they make that trip to their local casino. The problem with poker shows in the past is that a) they're all tournaments, and b) they don't give you a good sense of how the action is going, because they're editing down a 7+ hour tournament to 2 hours. High Stakes Poker is a great example of how cash games are different from tournaments, and should be played just as such.

With Poker After Dark, they take 5 days to show what is essentially a 6 handed deep stack sit-n-go. I find it very informative as they show 85% of the hands and you see the natural ebb and flow of the tournament. You see the setups for the hands that they would just show the result of on something else. Another key thing for me is that they turn the player mics all the way up, and there's one announcer who you never meet. His comments are 99% awful and stupid, but thankfully he doesn't talk all that much, they just let the players play.

They also skip back story stuff and just introduce the players for 15 seconds and play. They don't make a "story" of the tournament, they just play poker. It's a great show for people who have a knowledge of the game already and want to study the game more indepth. I can't recommend in enough, TIVO it or Bittorrent it, which i do.

As for the show, we're in Springfield, Il and we got snowed in last night, thanks to this beautiful midwest weather! We found out we were canceled around 3PM and decided to just lounge around all day. I spent the day watch aforementioned poker shows and The Apprentice alone in the hot tub, ate some dinner and drank a few beers watching more poker shows. I'm pretty addicted to these.

It's Valentine's day today and I'll be seeing Karen late tomorrow night in Aurora, Il, home of Wayne and Garth. There's a casino nearby too, I wonder if we'll go? It's about 12:30 right now, so I'm gonna hit the gym, hot tub, lunch and do a show I guess. I'm goin to Canada soon so I won't have my phone. In the words of Jack Bauer, "Dammit!"

2006-12-15T15:40:00.000-05:00

Bleh...

This is my current emotion...just tired for no reason. I just pulled into Scranton, PA and "The Office" theme went off in my head. I thought that was funny. Just watched the hour long Christmas special from last night, and there were some amazingly funny moments. Check it out if you can.

Maybe I'm tired because of my resurgence of going to the gym again. It's been a while admittedly, but I feel good every time I go and it's hard to turn that down. I'm getting older now, (my birthday was yesterday) and maybe time is just catching up to me.

I feel awful for Will and Erin in Seattle who have no power and no way of personal transport. My thoughts go out to them in this, the hardest of times.

In other news, NO, I haven't returned my phone yet. I actually love it and plan on keeping it the full 2 years until something better comes along.

Back to my birthday, I had a great time with all my friends from the show in Binghamton, NY. I got presents in the mail from Karen and her parents which were much appreciated. Thanks baby!

I didn't realize how many people that go to school there are from Long Island, and I met quite a few. Then we came back and a few of us watched Jackass 2 that I got online earlier this week. Overall a great birthday!

Ok, off to the mall and soundcheck, and then I'm hanging out with Pete and Jess tonight. Happy times!

2006-11-29T15:53:00.000-05:00

Guess who's back?

Well well well...I know it took a long time but I'm back with plenty of things to write about. I'm a little hopped up on cough medicine right now so my attention is waning. Bear with me.

Tour has been going really well overall. Great people, great audiences, great show. Since the last post, we've been through the Carolinas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, UMASS (we played where the Minutemen play), Maine, and West Virginia.

So far we've had 3 individual shows canceled, which is fine with us as it doesn't affect our pay and we get to do less work. AKA - The American Dream. When we were in Maine, a girl in the show caught an ad for Bob Saget doing his stand up show at a college gym in Lewiston, ME. She promptly rented a car and I was lucky enough to snag a seat in it to get to the show. It was a random night to say the least, getting lost in Maine and such. By the way, Portland is a really cool city.

Backing up to UMASS, we were scheduled to have a show Mon, Tues and Wed night. Tuesday and Wednesday were cancelled by the presenter and Thursday was a travel day leaving us with Nov. 7th 8th 9th off! Now, I'm sure you all remember Nov. 7th really well. Democrats across the country rejoiced, because Guitar Hero 2 came out, and we took the House and Senate!

Someone found a way to take the best game ever created...and make it better. I didn't think it could be done, but in every facet, they made the game better. Do yourself a favor and spend the best $200 of your life on a PS2 and a GH2 Bundle.

In other news, I openend up an ING Orange account online, and find it to be very financially sound. I've saved up some money so far without having to do much really. Just auto transfers every week and it couldn't be simpler. I've also referred some people on tour to be able to do the same thing too. If anyone's interested in saving more money, email me and I'll tell you all about it.

On to Thanksgiving. We were supposed to have the past week in DC, but we were told we were cancelled the Tuesday before we were to go there. We finished our week in Philly, then the company flew me to Chicago to hang out with Karen where she's doing the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Met some of her family in Chicago at her grandmother's house for Thanksgiving dinner, had a great time.

Friday I flew home to Long Island and spent the day at home just hanging out, but found a card game later that night. The place that I usually play at, closed while I was gone. So I called my friend to find out where people were playing. Did well for the night, but made 2 huge errors, that I honestly should just know better. Left +$130 for the night, not stellar, considering how much I should've been up.

We played till 9am then I went home to sleep till 1230. Then Maureen and I drove up to Pound Ridge to see Jennifer, Patrick and the kids. I really miss them and it was great to have them there instead of on the phone. I'll be seeing them in January when I play the town right next to theirs. That'll be a fun weekend indeed.

Sunday I didn't move from my chair more than 5 times the whole day, due to a football coma. I always have Sunday matinees so I NEVER get to watch live football. This was like Christmas in November. This coupled with the fact that my Fantasy team is really starting to heat up. I was quietly winning 75% of my games this season till I got murdered 2 weeks in a row and was an underdog, going into this week. Donovan McNabb, Ronnie Brown, Kevin Jones, all hurt. I did some studying (and some gambling) on who I thought would be good options and I was able to win decisively this week and have the 1st place guy, lose. Now tied for 1st with 2 weeks to go, we play each other this week, in what should be a crazy matchup. I'm almost too excited for words.

Right now I'm in Pensacola, FL and I'm a little under the weather. I've been coughing for about 3 weeks now, and not once have I tried medicine or a doctor. Now I pay the price. I pulled a muscle in my chest this morning coughing, and now the middle of my chest plate is reeeeeeeeally sore. Overall I just feel achy. We all went out for Kasey's birthday (my roomate/boss) and today is kind of a recovery day. I'm in the hotel bed ready to nap as I write this.

I'll leave you with another classic Gregg story. Never being happy with the current technology and being eligible for a $100 discount towards a new cell phone can be troublesome. That coupled with Verizon's 15 day worry-free guarantee leads to me exploiting the living hell out of a loophole. Since Oct. 23, I'm now on my 3rd phone.

The 1st was the Motorola Q. While it was a nice phone, I didn't need the Data Plan to do what I do, and the cost per month was too high. I really just wanted something fancy and grabbed the sleekest thing I could. I returned that about 13 days later and went back to my old phone.

Then in Philly, I was bored one day. On days where we just have 1 show at night, I find myself to be stir crazy during the day. Anyway, we stayed 1/2 block away from a Verizon Store, and I really liked the White Chocolate. The phone is really sleek looking and has a great resolution screen and a nice camera. But after another 13 days (and dropping it in my soup) the touch sensitive controls were a little too much for me. I would try to send a text message and it would move options over the to the right instead of "enter". Stuff like that. I didn't think I would be happy with the phone for the next 2 years of my life, so I gave it up on the exact date that the phone I've been waiting for since October, finally came out.

The LG9900, or the en-V. (jealous?) It's the update from the last year and basically it's a regular phone up front but it flips on its side to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2MP camera. The screen is a nice resolution and the pictures look amazing. I'm finally happy with a new phone, and not just settling anymore, which feels nice.

Well, it's time for a nap now before the show. This was fun, perhaps I'll get back to the habit of doing this a little more often...

2006-11-28T17:05:00.000-05:00

Hey, I'm sorry that I haven't posted in 2 months, but that will change later today/tomorrow. I'm just extremely lazy, won't even try to lie...be back soon

2006-09-29T12:46:00.000-04:00

Opening, and Florida

So I pulled into Sarasota, FL last night and had an uber expensive dinner at a seafood place and hung out on the beach till 1am. And someone pays me to do this...

I was just here at this same venue and hotel in December, and it's such a great vibe, everything is very peaceful.

We opened on Monday in Columbia, SC and while the first performance was a bit of a tech disaster, we pulled it off, and the crowd loved it. It's nice to know that the material alone in the show is enough to give the crowd a good time. Tuesday and Wednesday's shows went great, and we had yesterday off to get ready for the 5 show weekend starting tonight. My folks will be coming later today so it'll be really nice to see them and to have them see the show. See you guys soon!

2006-09-18T21:51:00.000-04:00

Pit Photo

This is a shot taken just 10 min ago from the house in Owensboro, KY. See ya at the show!

2006-09-17T23:04:00.000-04:00

A Packed Morning

Well, I'm here in Owensboro, KY, and back from Canada. Everything is going really well in rehearsal and we're getting close to running the complete show with everything. Exciting times indeed.

This morning Kasey, John (my two bosses) and I took our company car to get some food before rehearsal. I was going along minding my own business and a car comes across traffic making a left turn! I slammed on the brakes and swerved right, but still hit the car going about 20mph or so. We pulled over and a tiny frail old lady comes out and says she knows it was her fault but "I just got so tired waiting at that light! It just never changed!"

I kid you not, this was her first and only defense. Her next line "I guess that's what I get for going to church" was not helping in the least either. I just felt so bad for her, but clearly it was not my fault. I found a cop across the street and he straightened everything out. During this, Dycka called me to tell me a WR for my fantasy football team isn't playing this week and I should take him out. I didn't make it to the theater till 102pm EST and was unable to make the switch. Fearing the worst, I checked my score to see that thanks to McNabb and the Ravens defense, I have a very solid lead against my opponent with just his defense playing tomorrow night. Take that Gyros!

Well, I'll have some pics of my setup up tomorrow. Hope all is well, back soon!

2006-09-12T01:37:00.000-04:00

Random ramblings from the Great White North

I'm on my way back to the States on Thursday, so that's some good news. In other good news, the CD that I recorded back in May in Philadelphia is finally done! 2 guys from the Oklahoma tour got together and did a country singer/songwriting team project. They asked me to play for the 12 tracks they were doing. I'm honestly very impressed with how the whole thing came together. You can check out the tracks at:

http://www.myspace.com/haroldbarnard2

It's probably because I had something to do with them, but I can't stop listening to the songs. Especially "Three Wise Men". That's got "hit" written all over it.

In other news, Karen visited this weekend and we had a great time. She left today and it was really sad to see her go. She'll be back in October before she goes out to do Radio City in Chicago and Boston. on a side note, we did manage to watch all 13 episodes of Arrested Development Season 3...in 2 days. If anyone has not seen this show, please do yourself a favor and get the DVDs. Easily the best writing and acting in any sitcom, ever, of all time, period. (Have I made my point?)

As for the show, rehearsals are going really well. We did 2 runs in the studio this weekend, and it's really starting to turn into something. I'm really excited to get it in front of an audience and hear their reactions. That's where the excitement will really start to set in.

Anything else? Oh yeah, I did manage to get the woman working at some Canadian clothing store here, to get a sweatshirt from a different store, because they were out of my size, and drop it off at my hotel tomorrow. This would NEVER happen in the USA.

Which brings me to something that I had totally forgotten to mention. The general politeness of everyone in Canada has been pretty amazing quite honestly. EXCEPT when you fail to obey every traffic law. Jaywalking for instance is taken quite seriously here. Not even by the police, just like regular people will shoot you nasty glances for crossing at the wrong time with NO cars around.

It's really weird. Kinda like the metric system. Well, on that note, I'll leave you with 2 pictures. The 1st is from the audition scene and the 2nd is of Max (Jason) Ulla (Elizabeth) and Leo (Austin). On that note, I'm gonna finish my 591mL of Coke and get ready for my 17 degree Celsius weather tomorrow.

2006-08-30T01:39:00.000-04:00

Blame Canada!

Well, the first update in over a month and I have some pictures from the first couple days up here in Canada for the Producers tour! If you've seen the show, it's pretty cool to be here and see all of the B'way stuff that we're using.

All is well so far, we have a day off today (Wed.) so I'll be posting a more indepth report later on. Hope all is well!

2006-07-19T12:12:00.000-04:00

Here's how I'm running

First hand last night.

AK in BB, UTG player raises to $6, a smallish raise for this game. It folds to the SB, a loose player who calls, I have AKd. UTG has $53 left. I elect to call. Flop: AK4. We check to the UTG player. He bets $12. SB folds, I call, planning to check raise the turn, or if he checks, make a value bet on the river. I check the 9 on the turn and he moves all in. I call of course, and whaddya know? He has AA.

Ok. Later on in the night, the SB from the previous hand announced that he wanted to put all his money in blind (about $80), and either double up or go home. I get KK, he limps, folds to my raise. I get AA he limps, calls my raise to $11. Flop is 245 with 2 diamonds. He checks, I bet 15. He's so ready to fold, and I tell him if he has any pair there, he's probably good. He sends his money in QUICK with Kd4s. Nice, I call. Turn 8d, river Jd. Oh wait, yup he has a flush. I'm actually playing really well the past 10 days, just getting super unlucky. Including a hand where I put in $225 each preflop with AA vs. KK. Flop K94. Yup, it's been one of those weeks.

Enjoy the video below if you haven't seen it yet. It's terrific.

2006-07-18T12:04:00.000-04:00

How to Steal a Bike in NYC

Hector is a true Hero

2006-06-21T12:08:00.000-04:00

Pics from the cruise

Cruise Pictures

Enjoy!

I'm going to type up a trip report but I'm really lazy right now. I will tell you I got into a "discussion" at the poker table that almost lead to an altercation. That should be enough to whet your collective appetites.

2006-06-17T23:03:00.000-04:00

Back from the cruise!

We had a great time, and full report to follow!

2006-06-09T17:50:00.000-04:00

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Well, this week I've taken a beating in the game of poker. I won't bore you with results, but since I'm off this whole month from work, my vacation if you will, I've tried to play about 4 nights a week. Basically I'm ahead a little for the 2 weeks, but man oh man has it been rough.

But the good news is....Karen and I leave for our cruise on Sunday! We're so excited to just leave everything and have fun for 6 days. I'll post pictures when we get back.

Also, you tech guys, I want to post a copy of my schedule for The Producers tour so my family/friends can see where I'll be at any given time. Only problem is I don't know where to put it up online. Can you guys help me?

2006-06-01T04:12:00.000-04:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 3246300

I've decided to take part in this to try and snag a free seat at the WSOP. Can't hurt to try no? If you decide to try also, tell them that you were referred by www.greggm.blogspot.com. I have no idea if I get anything from that by the way. Wow, I've tried to edit this text above but I can't get it to not go into the sidebar. I could probably fix it, but I'm lazy and just got in from another cash game.

Quick results: 5/30 +$170; 5/31 -$90. Sickest hand was when I made trip K's on the river but the K was the Kd that completed a flush on the board. Could have probably lost less on the hand, but I didn't, lost the max. Never really got any hands after that. Game was a little too aggressive for me, I prefer to be the agressor. Won't be going back there, too many other easy games to beat up on.

2006-05-28T09:10:00.000-04:00

A great few days

Starting with Thursday, I finally got the official call from the company, and they offered me The Producers tour for the next year! I've been assuming that I'd be getting the call for a couple weeks now, so it's a huge relief to actually just have it over with. I'll be starting rehearsals in the city August 28th and living there hopefully until we leave Sep. 14th for the tour. Unfortunatly our first break is only for a week and it isn't until May. Long time, yes. On the good side we'll be having a lot of week long sitdowns, so Karen can come out and visit. Also, we'll be doing alot of cities that I didn't do on Oklahoma, like 6 weeks in Canada, which I'm really excited about.

Friday was great because I only had a morning show for a school group, giving me my first Friday night off since January! Having no show until Saturday night, I took advantage of the situation and went to go see The Wedding Singer in NYC. Kudos to Karen for getting us the ol' Student Discount for $26, and front row to boot! She's so awesome!

The show was ehhh...could be better. Lot of really easy 80's jokes that, in my opinion, were just results of lazy writing. There were basically no setups to the jokes, just really obvious references to song lyrics and pop culture. (Ex. A wall street scene, buisness exec says "Seriously, is anyone ever going to pay $3 for a cup of coffee?" Immediatly followed by "NEW Coke? Buy as many shares as you can get your hands on!" Ugh...)

Saturday I came home in the afternoon and met up with Phil for a delicious lunch at Fridays. He told me that the card club he works at had a Freeroll tournament at 4. Not having a show until 830 I decided to check it out. You get T2000 chips for free, and there's $20 rebuys for the first hour, blinds are 15 min long. I rebought right away and paid $5 for another T500 to go to the "dealer pool", a sort of pretip for the dealers. So basically I started the tourney with 4500 chips. I had my chips all in at one point with KQ vs. AK and 55. The flop came K83, then 8 8...whew, split pot! When Phil was dealing, I limped with QT on the button and flopped top two pair. I bet the pot of 3000 and got one caller. The turn bricked and I moved him in for 7000. He did the "look at the clock and 'I want to go home anyway'" routine and called with KJ for an open ended straight draw. Phil smashed a 9 on the river for me to leave me short. I was able to steal some pots and not really see showdowns and get back up to 11k. I did a double add on for $40 and jumped up to 17k at the break. Soon afterwards, we made the final table and they posted the prize breakdown: $755, $455, $310.

Just like the books say, things tightened up considerably as everyone was frightened to put money in the pot. I stole some pots as there was 6K just there for the taking each time. I stole about 3 times and then there was a raise to 13k from the chipleader directly to my right with the blinds at 1k/2k. I find AA and decide to move in for 31300. Folds around to him and he makes the fastest call with 33. I win and double up. It's at this point that I realize with these chips and the other people's styles, I have to get really unlucky to LOSE this tournament.

Same sort of situation as before happened again. There was a raise preflop and I get Kk this time. I move in again and he calls with KQh. I win that one too and we're down to 9. This helps the image even more, because now they've seen the cards I've had and any raise will be respected. I steal a bunch more pots and when we get to 5, a player decides to ask for a deal for 4th and 5th. $50 off the top 2 spots to go to them. We all agree and have now made the money. I could care less about anything but first though. I knock out the 5th place person with AT against his QJ preflop. Then I get the 4th place guy with 77 vs. his A9. 3rd place is also knocked out by me with T6o on a TT5 board. We both checked the flop. A K hit the turn and he checked so I bet 10k, he went all in for 23k, I called and he had Kx. Now heads up, I had about 146K to 100K. The blinds were 5k/10k now, but I had a small dilemma. It was 7:30 and I had a show in an hour. I still had to get home, change and get to the theater in an hour from 109 in Lindenhurst/Deer Park area. I offered a deal of $620/$500 in favor of me which he decided to "play a few more hands." I lost 2 of the next 8 hands, both preflop, and increased my chiplead due to his ability of calling 25k preflop and then folding on whatever board I bet. When I had close to 200K the other player asked if I wanted the deal. I knew I had him on the ropes but I wasn't in the place to argue, seeing as I had to go. I accepted and claimed the $620 prize, my biggest tournament win to date. I tipped the dealing staff $40, roughly 6% of my winnings, leaving me +$515 for the day.

Like I said, a great couple of days...

2006-05-19T16:05:00.000-04:00

Poker's awesome! Poker sucks! repeat...

That's pretty much how it's been going lately. Haven't updated in forever due to laziness but I found a couple of articles I find amusing and intriguing. Have at 'em.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48706

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

The second one is lengthy but really well done and worth the time. I love the solidarity of the blogging community. Makes me want to quit my job.

2006-05-08T01:17:00.000-04:00

It's Really Over

I'm sitting here in the airport in Vegas after my first flight. 2 more to go and I'm home! The Philly flight was not crowded when I checked in at LAX. But now...I was really worried cause I don't sleep well on planes, so I took a row where I was all by myself. I also scored an Ambien from Annie in the show, but with the whole Kennedy car crash, I have reservations about taking it and not remembering my own name. We'll see how it goes.

Last night we had our closing party for Oklahoma. I tried to get pictures with all the girls. I told them not to smile because I wanted them to look "sexy". Here's one pic.

You be the judge!

2006-05-05T12:48:00.000-04:00

All Good Things Must Come To An End

This was taken in Bakersfield, CA last night. We close on Sunday.

2006-05-01T09:56:00.000-04:00

Leaving Alberquerque

I'm sitting in the airport today, waiting for my flight to board to California, where we'll be spending our remaining 7 days on tour. A week from now, I'll be in (hopefully) sunny Bellport in rehearsals for Oliver. Alberquerque was a fun town this weekend. We did the customary 5 show weekend, but found 2 casinos nearby and decided to give them a shot.

The Isleta was a closer casino, but a little bit smaller than most. The poker room had about 8 tables I suppose and they actually played Stud 8/B in the afternoon when the old guys were there. I would've loved to play but unfortunatly had shows both afternoons. I sat down in a 1/2 blinds, $2-$10 Spread Limit HE game. It wasn't the right fit for me as there was a hyper aggro guy 3 to my right who was clearly controlling the tone of the game. I was able to flop a set with 55 and get paid off nicely, and left the game up $43. I saw the really passive 2/4 game that my 2 frieneds were sitting in and decided to sit down. Over the course of an hour with KK being the only big hand, I left up $136. We then returned and had a glorious middle of the night meal at Waffle House.

Saturday night after 2 shows we took the drive to the Sandia Casino, probably about 20 miles away. It's funny when you hear the inflection in people's voices about how far away this was. *Front desk guy* "Well, that one's kinda out there, past I-4, prolly a good 15-20 miles." I guess when you routinely drive 300 miles or more on a daily basis, 20 miles is a walk in the park. Also, the company provided us rental cars and we weren't responsible for the gas, so c'mon, this is a no brainer.

The game they had there was a $4-8 game with a 1/2 kill to $6-12. Damn the game was good! The kill pots were so easy to win as no one wanted to invest a preflop raise. I raised 85% of the kill pots with random hands, bet on the flop and took down 5/6 of them. Nothing of note to talk about, just ran well, as I've been doing usual and took a $196 profit in 2.5 hours. My friends were playing in the 2/4 game so I sat down to kill time. I got slowrolled not once, not twice, but 3 times in 15 minutes by the same guy and I quit, down $50 and disgusted by what had happened. He would intentionally miscall his hand on the river, I'd show and then he'd table them, and the dealer would figure out he was kidding. The fact that he thought he was so clever too was icing on the cake. He wasn't wearing sunglasses (a favorite of mine at low limit hold em tables) but he was a donkey still the same, just a different costume.

So, Sunday night comes around, and we go back to Sandia, I sit in the 4/8 game, and who's there? Slowrolling donkey! He ends up going broke with 75o on a J7396 board. I never really got anything going, flopped Tens full with AT on a ATT board. Got called by AJ. At my peak I was up $60 and then the poker gods decided my hands were not meant to run well. Just one of those sessions, everyone's been there. AK AQ all the flops come 842 rainbow and it's 2 bets to you by the time you get it. You miss every draw and the cards just don't go your way. Down $195 I called it quits, leaving me up $87 for the weekend. This was the first day in 2 weeks that poker wasn't fun. Let's hope it becomes fun again soon.

Home in a week! Monteith out!

2006-04-29T13:59:00.000-04:00

New Mexico Report

We played 2 towns in New Mexico this week, well, 3 if you count where were are now in Alberquerque. The more interesting town was Alto where the theater is set up in the middle of nowhere on a mountain. Literally nothing around, but this beautiful venue. The altitude got the better of some people and the theater provides oxygen on both sides of the stage for the dancers. Sadly, none for us in the pit. I was fine, but the wind players suffered a bit.

I got this nice pic outside after soundcheck while listening to the Yankee game on my XM. If you don't have one and travel, GET ONE. It's really refreshing to listen to John Sterling at 4pm in the middle of nowhere.

2006-04-28T18:05:00.000-04:00

Finally back!

Well after some drama this week with not getting any internet in the hotels for some reason, and then when I did, not being able to log on to blogger.com, the Reno Report is finally here! Read on...

So the plan was to play for 30 hours over the 3 days. 'Twas a lofty goal, this is true, especially coupled with the fact that I would be doing 5 shows over the weekend, which is pretty typical. (Friday night, double Saturday, double Sunday) I started out playing as soon as I showered at the hotel. Only able to play a couple hours, I booked a small win before going over to soundcheck. The first big pot I played though would set the tone for the weekend.

I limped on the button with Js8s, I played alot of hands like these because this card room was paying big bonuses for straight flushes with both cards in your hand. We took the flop 7 ways and the it came AsQs4d. It was bet by the big blind, called 3x, and the cutoff raised. Knowing that no one goes away anymore in limit games no matter how many bets are put in, I 3 bet it with the 2nd nut draw. It got called by the BB, called 3x then capped by the cutoff. We all called. The 7c missed me on the turn and it was checked to the cutoff who bet, and I merely called, hoping for everyone to call too. Only the BB did and the 6s came on the river. Miraculously, they both checked to me now, and they both called my bet. I was good.

It was during this time also that I got the best symbolic representation of Reno I could ask for. In one pot was a chip, literally falling apart, that the house had Scotch taped together. The metal insert was still intact, but the rest of it was cracked. I laughed at the coincidence and pocketed the chip as a souvenir.

I came back after the show and played until about 5am, leaving the day up $119. The next morning I played again for a couple of hours before my matinee, but the real fun was inbetween shows. Harrah's was across the street from the venue and I ran over to play for an hour or so before my evening show. It was 3/6 with a full kill with some pretty bad play at the table. I sat down with $140 and the first hand I played was in the BB with 5h7c. Flop was 678 rainbow, and I check raised a MP bet and everyone called. The turn missed me yet again, but I lead this time out of position. 4 people called and I bet the 4h on the river and got a crying call from A8. I won another couple of big pots and in 1 hour 15min, I netted $186 from this game. Up $300 in a few hours or so, I played again that night at our hotel and made another win and decided to head upstairs to get some sleep and play in the tournament at 10AM.

I signed up for the tournament at 9:30 and got some breakfast over at Mel's Diner. Yum. I came back and found out the game was a 12 handed single table tournament. Weird. Starting stack was 1500 chips, 25/50, doubling every 15 min, and capped after an hour at 200/400. I figured if I could double up 2x early, I'd have an easy shot at winning it. I was able to pick up 2 black AA at 100/200 and eliminate 2 shortstacks of 700 and 900 in one hand. Eventually it was down to 4 handed, and I called an all in from the button with AT, he had QJ. I survived that and was now the chipleader 3 handed with about 7400 chips. Now I made a serious blunder which I would not have done if I knew the complete rules of the tournament. They call the tournament OVER at 1 hour. The blinds don't stop at 200/400, the whole thing stops and they do a chip count for 1st and 2nd place.

Thinking that no one wanted to go broke on the bubble, I raised to 1400 on the button with T7d. The SB who I've seen limp with AQ then call all ins, moved in on me. I wasn't sure how much he had, so I asked the dealer to bring in the 2 1400's. He didnt' do anything, so I pushed the 2 stacks towards the center and he snapped at me, saying that if I wanted to be a dealer, I could fill out an application. I told him that I needed a count to figure this out and again he did nothing but ask if I was calling. I guess people there don't think about whether their tournament life is on the line and just randomly call without thinking things through. I OF COURSE wasn't going to call, turns out he had more chips than I thought, but I had to act like I was going to think about it, or this might happen a few more times and ruin my image. I eventually folded, and came in 2nd. Had I not have blown that 1400, things might have turned out differently. I took the $40 profit and put it on the Yankee over (10) for that day. The Yanks won 7-1. Yay/boo!

I played for another hour or so, and lost $10 in the 3/6 game, my only losing session all weekend. The goal was to make $600 in 30 hours and I was ready to fall way short of this goal. Harrah's during dinner went awfully bad as soon as I sat down. Case in point:

BB with Th6d. 5 ways, flop comes A66 with rainbow. I check call a button bet as do 3 others. Turn is a 4, I check raise the button now, and the cutoff 3 bets it. Uh oh! What's going on here? Button calls, I just call backing down, but hoping they're overplaying AK, AQ. I check the J on the river and think how sick it would be if she limped with AA. I call, and she tables the AA. Ouch, nicely played ma'am. Down $65 or so early on, I clawed back and eventualy won 2 pots making it a kill pot. I got K4 and won one with turning 2 pair, getting called by 3rd pair, sweet! Next hand i get 23o and flop a 3. People check to me on the button fearing that I might win every hand. We check the turn, and I river another 3. They check to me and I say that I can't win unless I bet, which suckers in one guy. When it was all said and done I was up $96 for that hour and closer to my money goal, but way behind my hours that I wanted.

I had to make $106 that night to make my goal a reality, and things started up quickly again. Long story short, in the 3 days, we did 5 shows, totaling 15 hours of work. I played 17.5 hours of poker, and slept for 9.5 hours in 3 days. I might have been the only person to leave Reno ahead, leaving a $683 winner only playing 3/6. Definitly a good weekend indeed. This weekend we'll be in Alberquerque (I think it's a left turn if we get lost). I think I remember reading in Cardplayer last year that there's casinos nearby. The best part of this story is that I'll be home in 10 days! I had a terrible dream last night though that they sent the wrong color drums to my house, and I was in a terrible state of distess. Yeah yeah, I'm a tough guy.

*Update* I left my lucky broken chip in El Paso, TX on the nightstand. You'll just have to use your imagination.

2006-04-20T03:37:00.000-04:00

Fresno, Poker, Baseball, and Airport Gambling

We flew from Spokane WA to Fresno CA on Monday and our Reed II player Ira and I had begun a series of heads up matches. The guidelines were the following:

Best 2 of 3 in NL Hold em and Pot Limit Omaha for $20 a series. The last night in the hotel, I absolutly destroyed him in both games (haha) and won $40. Jeff, one of my roomates is now hooked on poker and wanted to play a $5 3 person tourney with us. I won that too, up $50 for the night.

We continued playing these matches on the airport floor waiting for our flight and it was pretty much over right away. I took him for another $40 and gave him the chance to win some back in PL Omaha, arguably his best game. The last hand had me having KK23 with 2 clubs on a board of A34 with 2 clubs. We jammed the pot and Ira had flopped the nuts with the wheel (doh!!). I missed twice and it was over, ending only $60 ahead. Oh well, that's enough to buy some Quizznos till the end of tour.

We flew in and our trusty bus driver who knows I like the poker, told me of a card room, Club One Casino, right down the street. I was tired on Monday night, so I didn't go, instead opting to watch 24. I DID however, go down and play on Tuesday morning around 1130. The plan was to stay until 5, but I pretty much got my ass kicked and was down $200. I went back inbetween sound check and my show and played 2/4, got in an argument with the dealer over 2 stupid things. I don't want to go into it, I was livid at the time. Suffice to say, the dealer should just keep his mouth shut and move the game along. Insulting players is in no way acceptable and should not be tolerated. I also will not tip dealers who act like this, and this instigated mini arugument #3. Anyway, I made back $32 playing 2/4 and had to go to my show. Afterwards, I played 3/6 again and made back $102, leaving myself down $66 for the day.

A perfect way to start the day before a show

Today a bunch of us went to the Fresno Grizzlies game, the SF Giants AAA team. They were playing the AAA Dodgers team, the Las Vegas 51's. I've never been to a minor league game before and it was awesome. We got seats right behind home plate for $13, drank beer, ate hot dogs and snowcones and everything. The weather was beautiful, it really was a perfect day. They even ended up winning 3-2 with some nice play and good pitching. For pictures of today's game and event go to my picture page. Oh yeah, Parker is the mascot for the Grizzlies and Annie had the best line of the day spoken really softly. "I swear Parker is really Mr. Met, but they found out he touched a kid, and sent him down here."

After the game, I went back to Club One and started off running really well right off the bat, up $141 without blinking. After losing several rough pots, I was up only $30 when I decided enough was enough, cutting the deficit to $36 loss for the 2 days. Tomorrow we drive to Redding, CA and then onto Reno for the weekend. The sick thing is that my taxes are due to direct deposit the day we pull in on Friday. I plan on logging 30 hours at the table this weekend, so blogging might be infrequent. I'll tell y'all how I do!

2006-04-15T20:14:00.000-04:00

Spoklahoma

That was on a shirt I saw in town here in Spokane, WA. Apparently it's the nickname for the town, weird huh?

We're playing the Opera House here and it's a special time as our conducter and my roomate Kasey is playing his hometown. The crowds have been great and I get the feeling when we play this venue that we're doing something special. Not sure what it is, but it's just a feeling I can't describe. It's also real nice to sit down in one place, this being a stop for 4 days.

I was told about a place called the Northern Quest Casino from a guy in Tacoma when I played cards there on Monday. I went there yesterday and got in around 1pm. The only game going was a 3/6 game so I bought in for $150 and sat down. I didn't really catch any big preflop hands, in fact my best pocket pair all day was 66. I never ran into trouble though and I cruised through a 4 1/4 hour session, crushing the game up $405, easily my biggest win at this level.

I came back to do the show and afterwards 4 of us (Jeff, Shaun, Ira, and myself) went back. I was able to jump right into a game again while the other guys waited on a list. One of my first hands sitting down I called a preflop raise from the woman to my right with QJh. 6 of us took a flop of AT4 rainbow. She did her standard continuation bet and I called as did 2 others. I spiked a K on the turn and she bet again, I raised, fold fold, then she 3 bet me. I of course capped it and she called. The river blanked out, and she almost bet. She however check/called me probably having AA or KK, can't think of anything else she's 3 bet then check/call. I then had AA run into quad J's for a beating.

Then my table broke up and I joined another table, sitting directly to Ira's right. I ended up getting AA again and winning a pot against a cap preflop, 3 bets on the flop, 2 bets on the turn, then a check fold on the river. Bizarre to say the least. When my game broke up around 3:15am we left and I took home another $132. While waiting for the cab, I got bored and went into the pit. I shot craps and played one spin of roulette, netting another $16.

This morning I went to Guitar Center, the same store where I got my drumset in Oregon last week. I was in the market for a new Snare Drum so I tested them all out, and eventually picked out this DW All-Maple Collector's Edition. It's oh so beautiful with it's Natural Wood Finish. To those who aren't familiar with this kind of thing, DW is one of the best drum manufacturers in the world. I also picked up a hard case for the drum as well, as I'll be mailing it home in the next couple of days. When I get there, I'll basically have a brand new drumset waiting for me, and the casinos of North America to thank!

2006-04-07T18:50:00.000-04:00

Even more passive than me in the previous post

This just happened in a .50/1 NL game on FCP.

PRE-FLOP
Jezze J-man calls $1, Hampe04 folds, Sacred7 folds, matti_z calls $1, MLCardwell folds, Arulez folds, Venia folds, seanfrey folds, gregg316 checks.

FLOP [board cards 10H,3H,8D ]
gregg316 checks, Jezze J-man bets $2, matti_z calls $2, gregg316 bets $7, Jezze J-man calls $5, matti_z bets $10 and is all-in, gregg316 bets $20, Jezze J-man calls $20.

TURN [board cards 10H,3H,8D,6H ]
gregg316 bets $15, Jezze J-man calls $15.

RIVER [board cards 10H,3H,8D,6H,JH ]
gregg316 checks, Jezze J-man checks.

SHOWDOWN
gregg316 shows [ 3S,10S ]
Jezze J-man mucks cards [ KS,KD ]
matti_z mucks cards [ AD,AS ]
gregg316 wins $60, gregg316 wins $37.50.

2006-04-07T02:43:00.000-04:00

Poker and Drums!

As per Will's request, I will now post the losing sessions over the past 2 days that I've had. My first real downswing in a while really. Eugene, OR has a poker club right next to the theater actually. To keep it legal, they charge a membership fee, along the same lines of a greens fee for golf. I got a "day pass" for $5. Usually it's $25 a month or $100 for a year. $5 seems a little steep considering it's one night, but what else could they really charge? $3? Probably not.

The game was 1/2 NL Hold'Em, the game of choice these days it seems with most people. The buy in was $40-$200, and I sat down with the maximum. I didn't really do any action at all. I worked my stack up to about $230 and then the cold deck sat in. My read on the table was that pretty weak starting hands were being played and raises represented what the hand was basically. For example, a raise to $15+ was usually AA KK QQ JJ AK, a raise to $8-$10 was usually 99 88 77 66 AJ AT A9 and so on. The game was action packed though with lots of players seeing flops and gambling more and playing poker less. I just needed a hand when the following hand came up.

UTG raises to $7 and I look down at ThTd. Usually my play in this situation is to reraise to about $22, but for some reason, I couldn't pull the trigger. I was scared for some reason which was reason number 1 to leave the game. There was a HUGE stack of about $800 to my left and I was worried about getting run over as he plays almost every pot. In the first of many bad moves, I only called the raise, and the mega stack to my left decides to raise it to $22. The blinds flat called the reraise, as did the original raiser and I did too. The flop came 942 with 2 hearts. They checked to me, and for some reason, (mistake #2) I decided to check also to see what the other player did. Unfortunatly, he checked behind and we saw the turn which was the Ah. SB checked, BB bets $4 into a $88 pot. It then went fold, and I called with the Ten of hearts. The original reraiser now folded! Wow, ok, can I play this game any more passive? The river was a 3c and the BB bet out $4 again and I was forced with a decision. There was $100 in the pot and I ran through the hands I could beat. I couldn't beat an Ace obviously, but I could beat any 9 or other pair. I don't believe he had a flush or a straight, and quite honestly, I was stumped by what he could have. I thought my best chance was to try and get him to fold to take the pot and I raised an odd amount, of $37 to make it $41 to go. He looked upset and started talking to himself to see if I had a flush, or a straight. He called after not a long time really and showed A4o. I tapped the felt and mucked my hand. Hmmmm, I played that hand so awfully, I probably deserved to lose some money.

After that, I couldn't get anything going and played "get even poker", which is awful to do. Sign #2 that I should have left. I eventually got my last $79 in the pot with the nut flush draw against top pair. I had two chances to hit it, but missed and that was that. Night #1 in the books.

I went back the next night for more punishment, but I thought honestly it was a game I could beat. I sat down with the maximum again and folded for quite a while. There was a player 2 seats to my right who was playing 80% of the pots and playing most of them for a raise. He honestly was not very skilled as he had 2 raise increments. $25 and $12. I took them for what they were worth strengthwise and after a $12 raise, I called with 45c. The button also called as did the BB and we took the flop 4 handed. The flop was 678 rainbow and I had flopped the low straight. The BB checked, and the raiser led out for $25. I raised it to $65. The button and BB folded and the original raiser moved me in. I called my last $86 and he showed top set of 8's. Not exactly the hand I wanted to call me. I'd rather him have TT or 99. The turn was a 4, and the river was...another 4. Ouch, quite a dagger to the heart. So that night was all of 55 minutes and -$400 for the 2 sessions.

Online though my sessions have been much better, practically evening things out for the week. I'm disappointed though at my overall results in the live game. You should always walk away when you know you can't beat the game. My timid play on the first night should've been enough for me.

On a much brighter note (pun maybe intended), I purchase a brand new drumset today! My first new piece of equipment in about 15 years. It's a Gretsch Renown Maple Kit, and the color is the beautiful Autumn Burst. This probably doesn't mean alot to anyone, but I'm excited nonetheless. It will be waiting at home for me when I get home May 8th. Speaking of coming home, we close in California on May 7th with a 3pm show. I have a redeye booked that has me flying out of LAX at 855 pm landing in Islip at 857 am. I then go right to Gateway for an 11 am rehearsal all day and all night. I love the work, but this day will certainly be crazy.

What was the point of this? Oh yeah, my NEW drums will be waiting for me at home as my current drums will be on a FEDEX delivery truck somewhere in California. This way I'll be able to do the shows at Gateway until my drums arrive home.

Another long one in the books. Starting today, we're up in Washington for a while where I'll be seeing Will and Erin on Monday. Can't wait, it'll be great to see them both.

2006-04-03T20:53:00.000-04:00

All Night Drive To Oregon...

Well, the schedule said that we had a 2 day drive from Great Falls, MT to Eugene, OR with a stop in Kennewick, WA at the end of Day 1. Some of us decided that that kinda sucks, so we rented a car and drove right after the show, 859 miles, in 13 hours. Now we're already in Eugene, and have all of today and tomorrow off. Well, we have a show tomorrow, but you know what I mean.

Along the way though, we stopped a couple times to take pictures of the GORGEOUS scenery that is Oregon. I had no idea. Here are a couple of examples:

I have also put up more pictures over here as well. More pictures will be added as this is an easier way for me to share them with you all. Hope everybody is doing well, and I'll talk to you soon!

2006-04-01T17:15:00.000-05:00

All I need now...is a car!

Apparently people had seen these before. So excuse my "fish out of water" syndrome, I just get excited by ridiculous things that are new to me.

2006-04-01T04:05:00.000-05:00

Changed the look of the blog today. We had a 10 hour drive today and when we got to the hotel, I didn't really feel like doing much of anything. In northern Wyoming, this is exactly what there is to do. But that's all well and good, we drive to Montana tomorrow for a show tomorrow night. I'm trying to view this as "states I would probably never vountarily go to."

We lost 2 of our castmates yesterday. Zygo, who was our Will Parker, tore his ACL during the show on Wednesday night and was sent home today to recover. Jessica Barbick also was sent home due to a knee injury sustained over the course of many shows. She needs to have her knee scoped due to lack of cartilage in there. I wanted to drop them a line here in case they read this to know that we miss them, and we wish them a speedy recovery.

If all goes well, I should have a funny picture tomorrow. Wyoming lends itself to that....

2006-03-31T10:18:00.000-05:00

The Electric Slide in Colorado Springs

I decided to use some other settings on my camera last night, this time turning the shutter speed way down. What resulted was this fantastic picture. Go ahead, don't act like you're not impressed.

2006-03-26T01:39:00.000-05:00

Some loose odds and ends

*Update*

Online poker going extremely well, up about 1000 or so BBs for the weeks time. Casino trip was good last night, 3/6 with a half kill was the game going mostly, didn't have enough for 8/16. Ended +116 for 2.5 hours work. Game was perfect, going back tonight.

*Re-update*

Went back to Agua Caliente last night. Played 3/6 again for 4.5 hours, leaving +$158 winner. We leave for the airport at 6am tomorrow, yet I want to return tonight for a couple hours. I am officially sick...

Here's some other pictures from this week.

Karen outside our hotel on day 1

Cute Little Baby Turtle

A picture of our suite

I forgot the name of this guy. They were playful though...and copulated with one another.

A cougar, presumably looking for Kim Bauer, somewhere in the distance.

Perhaps my favorite picture. They had a miniature train system set up in the middle of the grounds. I took this perspective show under the railing. To me it looks real. I am also a huge dork...

2006-03-24T18:38:00.000-05:00

California...Where have you been all my life?

Well, where to begin. Our travel day on sunday turned out to be a huge nightmare. We were flying from Madison, WI to Palm Springs, CA with a connection through Dallas. When we arrived at the airport, they informed us that due to mechanical failure, the flight never took off from Dallas, and our flight was therefore cancelled. It didn't look promising to get out of there that day, but they managed to squeeze the 24 of us (the others were flying on a flight through Chicago which turned out fine) on a flight OUT of Chicago to Orange County, CA. Our bus was still there, and our driver Jim agreed to take us to Chicago, 2.5 hours away.

We made it there and then the terminal people couldn't find our reservation. Once they did, they couldn't pull individual people from the list because we were labeled as a group. They finally figured it out, and we relaxed in the Chilis lounge and had beers and fatty foods. Yum. I then went to the other airport bar, watched some of the Bulls game, and had a very rarely found Bud Light Pint-Sized bottle. Delicious.

Once we landed, there was to be a bus to take us to the hotel in Palm Desert, a 2 hour or so drive. One of my regular roomates Jeff got a rental car there and offered me a ride, so I didn't have to take the bus. It's a good thing I did because it didn't come for another hour after we left. They accidently went to LAX and had to turn around and come to Orange County. DOH!

I arrived at the hotel around 11PM or 1am Central time, making the day about 15 hours worth of travel. Karen would then come around midnight, ironically she flew into LAX where the bus was. I upgraded for the week and got a suite at the hotel which was really nice.

Monday we went to a massage place and got hour long massages. I have a hard time enjoying massages afterwards, like the next day. They're usually just momentary release and relaxation, but I feel no long term effects. Still great nonetheless.

Tuesday we went to The Living Desert, a zoo in the area. I got some really nice pics there like these ones:

Wednesday we went to a waterpark called Soak City. A bit overpriced and not that many rides leads to a so so experience. Overall at the end of the day it was a fun day, but you don't get alot for your money.

This morning sadly, Karen had to leave and cut short our mini vacation. I couldn't have asked for a better time though, the weather was beautiful, the company was amazing, and I'll never forget this week in my life. Only 6 more weeks and I'll be home guys!

PS. On a side note, and I swear to the poker people who read this, I have some interesting hand histories to share with you. I've been absolutly killing the NL games on FCP lately. Everytime I say this I always run into a bad streak, but I haven't had a losing session at all since Friday, and playing .50/1 NL, I'm up about 850 BBs. I think I'm really getting into the "zone" and playing the best poker of my life.

Going to the Aqua Caliente Casino tonight. Results will be posted soon!

2006-03-15T02:19:00.000-05:00

Quick Spelling Test!

Iowa is clearly lacking in the spelling department, and their amount of "M"s on hand for their marquee.

2006-03-14T15:51:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Cedar Rapids, Iowa!

Not much really to report out here in Oklahoma Land. Just workin hard finishing up a rough patch in the schedule. Tomorrow we're in Wasau, WI, and Thurs-Sat we're in Madison, WI. On Sunday, it's the day everyone's been waiting for. Flying to Palm Springs CA for 8 days. So far I've found 4 casinos within 12 miles of our hotel. Also there's a massage-spa place very close to where we're staying, which Karen and I will be partaking.

Other than that, nothing real crazy happening. Been having weird stomach aches lately but I can't really pinpoint anything bad I may have ate. Haven't been working out as much due to how I've been feeling. My roomate Jeff has watched all the Lost DVDs from season 1 and just recently bought all of the eps from Season 2 thus far on ITunes. I've been re-watching them with him the past couple days and we're up to ep 5 where Sun loses her ring. It's cool to see them again with all the information you have now and seeing how consistent the writing is, let alone things you may have missed. (Never picked up on Libby saying there were 23 of them in the tail section)

On another note, it appears as though I'll be leaving again for another tour in September. I'll be home for the summer, and as it appears now, I won't return until July 2007. What show you ask? Either The Producers or Hairspray.

2006-03-08T01:50:00.000-05:00

Casino in Evansville, and a drive to Columbia, MO

We had a good show last night in Evansville, IN. Beautiful theater, ok neighborhood, not much to do really. UNLESS, you take the shuttle from the hotel and go 14 blocks to the Aztar Casino. It wasn't hopping at 1130PM on a Monday night, but there were 4 tables of poker open in their room.

The back table was a 2/5 PLO game. My friend Ira, who is one of the reed players on the tour, plays Omaha almost exclusively. He sat down with the minimum buy in of $100. He ended up with $170 and went upstairs to play Carribean Stud where he hit a full house and the dealer qualified for another $175. Good job man!

There were 2 1-5 7 Stud tables open and 1 5-10 HE table. I sat down in a stud game while I waited for a seat to open up at 5-10. My first hand I got rolled up Aces. Kid to my right raised on 3rd street, I reraised to isolate. Heads up we got 2 bets in on 4th, 3 bets in on 5th, and 1 bet on the last 2 streets each. He had split 4's to start and picked up 2 pair. Later in that game we were joined by a drunk man who was drinking Dramboui straight. He decided to raise every hand on every street. I picked up split Aces one hand and finally slowed him down and got him to fold on 6th street when he had 2 diamonds showing. I made about $55 in that game and went over to the 5/10 game.

I got into a disagreement with the biggest hick you've ever seen at the game. It's too long to type about here, but he basically called me a "stupid internet kid who doesn't know how to play real cards. He likes to gamble." He got mad at me because I had the best hand on every street and got him to fold on the river with a worse hand. Why would he be mad at me then? I'm not even exaggerating either. It was ridiculous. He then proceeded to spit out percantages which were completely bogus about how far behind I was in the hand blah blah blah, when I was the clear favorite. I layed into him a little bit at the table and got most of the people there to laugh a little bit about how ridiculous this guy was being. He then proceeded to go broke soon after this. Vindication, one time!

We left Evansville today and drove 300 miles to Columbia, MO. Stopped over in St. Louis for lunch at Union Station, a "mall" of sorts that looks like an old train station. It was alright, I wasn't that impressed with anything there. After lunch I watched half on "Deus Ex Machina" from Lost with Jeff, one of our trumpet players. That's the ep that ends with Boone falling down with the plane and Locke over the hatch. Good stuff, makes me remember how good the show is when it's good. This past week was an awesome ep, which makes me also realize how filler the show gets inbetween the "HOLY CRAP" moments. But I digress....

While driving, I saw a billboard for something I never thought that I would see. Apparently Pheasant hunting is big here. Big enough to have a billboard with an advertisement for their website.

I especially like this pic. I'd like to see this kid in 20 years.

We had no show tonight which was a welcome change, as we now go for quite a few days without another day off. Till March 19th to be exact. Unfortunatly, I got a little sick during this time and had a fever and aches and chills and everything. Lot of people went to the bar and the gym while I stayed in and watched Scrubs and The Amazing Race. Whew, this was a long one, if you made it this far, congratulations. You win....nothing

2006-03-05T23:12:00.000-05:00

Livin' On The Edge...in Lexington, KY

We had a nice 4 show weekend here in Lexington, KY. Really nice town with some cool bars in a 2 block radius. Also, the UK arena is right next door and with the UK vs. Florida NCAA game today, the town was hopping. Unfortunatly, UK lost by 14, so the town was dead quiet after our show.

In a weird series of events a man came up to the pit before the show and was talking to Kasey our conductor. I thought nothing of it as people talk to us before the show to see where we were, where we're going, ya know, usual stuff. When we got back to the hotel around 545 or so, we get a call from the same man. Well, it turns out he used to work with some of the higher ups in NETworks (my company) when they were performing or touring like we are now. Except this guy, is now the road manager for Aerosmith!

He invited Kasey and I out to dinner and we took off to a pretty swanky Italian restaurant in downtown Lexington. I had a pan roasted chicken with sundried tomatoes and a garlic mashed potato with some kind of creamy sauce. Yum. We shared stories of being out on the road in the entertainment business, but man, has this guy been around! He told stories about everything, and how life in the rock and roll business really is. It was such a good time just hearing about his experiences.

He's toured with Peter Gabriel, Def Leppard, Hanson, Allman Brothers, Spice Girls, and has been with Aerosmith for the past 5 years. He invited us to their show on Tuesday here at the Rupp Arena, but sadly we'll be in Columbia, MO. But he did give me his card and said to look up their itinerary and if we're ever in the same area again, give him a call and we can hang out. Honestly a nice, down to earth guy if ever there was one.

Well, it's about 1230am now, and although I didn't check the official tally, I'm pretty sure I lost the Oscar pool here on the Oklahoma tour. I mean, c'mon, I didn't pick Wallace and Gromit, and also didn't choose Tsotsis for best foreign language film. Was I high or something?

Also, Crash came out of nowhere. One gay cowboy movie and the entire film industry falls on its head....

2006-03-03T00:04:00.000-05:00

Happy March!!

I'm writing this from Muncie, IN on Thursday night. We're off to Lexington KY tomorrow for the weekend, then only 2 more weeks of the midwest, and we're off to sunny California! Karen's coming out on the 19th and staying until Friday for a much needed vacation for the both of us. We've been having some good shows lately, and great audiences too.

Anybody besides Will and Erin watch the Amazing Race? Just watched it on the bus today and damn! I'm glad they're back to their old ways again. I flat out refused to watch the family edition. This is one show that never did anything wacky to change the format before this, (albeit stunt casting last year with Rob and Amber) and they seem to ALWAYS win the Emmy. I'm glad they learned from their mistake and are back with the 2 person teams.

Right now I'm downloading High Stakes Poker and both American Idols this week. Lost will be watched tomorrow and I'm uber excited as everyone that saw it said it was awesome. I'm surprised that more people out here haven't asked me how to download their favorite shows. It's amazing how these little creature comforts can make any day better.

2006-02-24T03:04:00.000-05:00

Kansas, Protesters, Show Stoppage, and Steak & Shake

Today we're in Lawrence, KS. We received word that Pastor Fred Phelps and his crew might be protesting outside our show. Fred Phelps is a minister in Topeka KS. They apparently picket outside musical theater shows in the area because gay people are involved in musical theater, are heathens, and the public must be made aware. Here's their website. This is also what Fred Phelps looks like, along with a bio. Mr. Phelps's group is not just anti-gay mind you. You see, America allows gays in it, and therefore, America is evil also. So essentially, they are anti-America as well.

Unfortunatly he was not at our show tonight. We found out later that his group was protesting a funeral in Minnesota of a soldier killed in Iraq. To quote Lewis Black, "I will repeat that." His group was protesting a funeral in Minnesota of a soldier killed in Iraq. How insensitive can they possibly be? I actually wanted them to be at our show tonight; I would've had some pictures to put on the blog.

We had to stop the show tonight too. This is the 3rd time in the past week that this has happened. A leg of power was lost, cutting our stage power for our lights, well 98% of them. So halfway through Act I, the show was stopped for 14 minutes. Thanks to modern technology, I played 3/6 holdem in the pit and IMed with Karen. Yes, a paycheck well earned.

After the show, Jeff the trumpet player and I were going to go to a local brewery called Free State Brewery. Unfortunatly, they closed at midnight, so we did the next best thing. Went to the 24 hour Walmart across the street! I just picked up some mosturizer, this weather has been a bitch on my skin, let me tell you! I contemplated new sweatpants also as my favorites have ripped. I did not buy them.

We then walked to Stake and Shake and severly destroyed our diets. Oh well, a good night nonetheless. Tomorrow, off to Omaha NE, where my new Ipod is waiting for me at the hotel! (Or as our bus driver pronounces it, the HO-tel.) See you guys soon!

2006-02-21T14:17:00.000-05:00

NY to Chicago - 2 days or 2.5 hours?

That was the question. Most of the cast took a 2 day bus trip to Joliet Ill, a little outside Chicago. I got to stay home though seeing as our last show on Sunday was on LI. What a difference a day makes.

Karen came out to sit in the pit with me at our LI show. We then met up with Tieds, MB, Dycka and Jess for brunch at the Peter Pan diner, it was really great to see them. Afterwards we stopped by Pete and Jess's to watch Dycka play Xbox fishing for a little bit and see how the house is improving. (Good job guys!)

Monday night was all pizza, beer and 24. Karen and I had a wonderful time like always, it's amazing how good it feels to do nothing sometimes. Just the way a day off should be. This morning I had a car service pick me up, take me to Laguardia and fly to O'Hare. I'm already in the hotel before the bus is even here, so I'm enjoying some alone time, but really wish I was still at home. 26 days to California baby!

2006-02-13T23:25:00.000-05:00

Hey Everybody! (Hi Dr. Nick)

Life on the road is better now. This week especially will be alot of fun because I get to see Karen a lot and even get to sleep in my own bed one night. Jen and Patrick and the kids came to see the show yesterday in Ohio. Here's a good pic.

Talking to Jen today, Colin was upset that he didn't get to go on stage while the actual show was going on. They sat through the whole show, and even though we started late and had a long intermission, which puts the show over 3 hours, they were great. I was nervous that they'd cry after the gunshots, but it was some other kids, not them. It was really good to seem them and see what I do, cause honestly, it's been a while.

I just got out of my show now and I'm sitting in my hotel room in awe of my new wireless mouse. I love things that are plug and play. Also, I recently purchased an XM portable radio to bring on tour. I figure when the Yankees start up again and I'm on the west coast, I can listen to an entire home game before I do my show!

On the bad side of things, I don't get to watch the Olympics hardly. I really wish I could watch some curling too....

2006-02-03T23:48:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Elmira, NY

I'm sitting in the lounge/bar area of our hotel after a long as hell stretch of shows which has been going on for just under 2 weeks. Honestly, I know I've only been gone for 10 days, but my body has felt like it's been 2 months. I'm frustrated as well. I can't really go into much detail on it, but something just isn't right. Also.....

After just seeing the pics on www.tieds.com, I really wish I could be there to see Will and Erin off to Seattle. It looked like a great time as always, and it annoys me that I wasn't able to be there. Sorry for the venting, but there's only so much you can talk about I guess. This by far wins the most indepth blog yet. Sorry you had to read this...

2006-01-27T15:06:00.000-05:00

Don't Want Security to Get Suspicious

'Nuff Said...

2006-01-27T02:07:00.000-05:00

You Don't Call, You Don't Write...

Ok, maybe just the latter. Well, we're back on the road up in Springfield Mass. We openend up in Utica NY and wouldn't ya know it, we were only 30 minutes away from Turning Stone Casino. Had a nice little visit over there and will be going to Foxwoods tomorrow most likely. The break was very good, very relaxing, just what I needed. Apparently I needed a new TV too, so I bought this one:

Yes, I bought a flat screen LCD TV and left right away for 4 months. Now you may ask what image that is on the screen? The answer is quite possibly the best PS2 game out right now, Guitar Hero. Basically DDR but with a prop, in this case a guitar. The game works so well, it's scary. In fact, I even brought it out on tour (the guitar JUST fits in my suitcase). Even the deepest skeptics become believers after one game.

I expect many posts to mock me and my game, but I warn you. Once you play, you will be forever changed, so please, choose your words wisely. It's good to be back on the blog again, I promise to never leave this long again...

2005-12-03T13:17:00.000-05:00

Pencils Down!

Ok so now it's answers time. Just to note that these answers may not be the best ones at the time, but they're what I did. Ok, here we go!

1. Ok everyone go this one right. Sit next to the woman of course. I hate to use stereotypes in life, but when faced with a decision like this, it's always good to let crazy people go before you. And also, the women that I've played with historically, are never very good, and having people like that to your right can be a huge advantage, as money usually travels clockwise around the table.

2. So on the board of T63TK, holding A6 after my opponent had check called me on the first 2 streets, he then led out to me on the river. Well, let's think about this one for a second. People gave very good answers, but no one gave the answer to what I actually did...

Ok, if he had a T, I would have definitly found about it on the turn. So if he had a 6 I had him out kicked. If he had a K it would have to be K 6, but what are the odds of that. He didn't reraise me before the flop so I can count out a hand like AK or any big pair. I know that he doesn't have a Ten, so I ask myself what can he have that would make him bet? He either has a K randomly or has a busted draw. I leaned towards the busted draw personally. Because he and I were friendly, I remember saying "that bet SCREAMS 'I can't win unless I bet!'" So I raised him and he mucked. I can only imagine him having a hand like 78, 79, 45, or 46.

3 a and b. I played the nuts kinda weak here. I agree with Pete that I should usually check raise the flop, etc, but I didn't. I check called the flop, and when the Q came on the turn, making me the 2nd nuts, I foolishly decided to check again. When the original bettor checked also, I felt my heart sank, but the older guy fires out a bet! I then raised to $24 since it was a kill pot. If he reraised me there, I'd get rid of the hand. But he just called, I then led out on the river, and he called with a Q6 for one pair. I got kind of lucky that he bet the turn, otherwise I lose $24 right there.

So there ya go, there's my answers...take them as you will.

2005-11-24T21:37:00.000-05:00

POKER TIME!!!

Ok guys, it's time for what this blog was originally intended, poker poker poker. Well, Karen left Thursday morning in Tucson, so Thursday afternoon I found the Desert Diamond casino, a short little 25 minute jaunt from our hotel. Honestly, I was not interested in playing great poker that day, I just wanted to get my feet wet and play some hands, and, at most as really possible, gamble.

That being said, I was probably the best player at my table, but boy did I not show it. I started playing tight, but thought that was boring and played every hand for 3 rotations, limped, called raises, everything, I just didn't care. It was a 3/6 full kill game (meaning some hands could be 6/12), and all things considered, I wasn't THAT big of a loser in the game, losing $156. The way I was playing, things probably should have been a lot worse.

But, losing money sucks! So I vowed the next time that I would play there, I'd play my "A" game. It didn't take me long to get back there, as Friday provided another opportunity. Now, this time unfortunatly we didn't have access to our vans as they were checked out for the day. So I called the casino shuttle, and they came to pick us up!

Now, if I knew then what I know now, I definitly would not have gone with this idea. But that's for the end of this particular story. So I get to the card room, play the same game, and wouldn't you know it, it's 4 of the same people that were there yesterday. Now, just because I played like an idiot doesn't mean that I didn't watch what others were doing! I was on a tight schedule of 1 hr and 45 min for that session and I evened everything up living a winner of $154. Ok, that's still -$2. Nothing really special happened this session it was just a matter of the best hands holding up. Things got a little crazy though the next session.

I skipped Saturday as it was Carrie's birthday and we went to a bar called Dirtbags, prolly the best name for a bar ever. It was nice though, oddly enough. Had a few drinks, went back to the hotel. Sunday we had 2 more shows, the 2nd one being a 6pm show, a time I don't think I've ever performed at, and loaded out my drums right after the show, as usual. I had to go back to the cardroom though as it would be the last live game I'd play for probably a month. I knew that I owned that game as I hoped some of the familiar faces were there that I knew.

I drove on down after the show and sure enough there were 2 people that I had played with. Let me set the scene, the game had a lot of money on the table. There were 2 seats open, they play 9 handed, and the seats were the 3 and the 9 seat. Let's go though seat selection shall we?

The 3 seat would mean that the "chipleader" and I hate using that term in a limit ring game, would be my big blind when I had the button. He was one of the players that I had played with in my previous sessions and EVERY time I'd seen him he had a mountain of chips that he then lost about 40% of. He wasn't a very tricky player, but he would flop 2 pair like crazy and people paid him off.

The other seat was to the left of a woman who had a mountain of chips! Prolly close to $380-$400. Which is alot of the game we were playing. I will say that I had to go with a kind of stereotype for me here. Also, the player to the right of that person was a foreign man who had about $45 and was very anxious about pots and kind of half standing half sitting on his chair like every pot was instrumental to him. Very neurotic player.

So this blog is in the form of a quiz. Not to say that I'm right, or smart or even good, but question 1) Where would you sit?

Question 2. You are in MP with A6. Folds to you. You raise as your image has been portrayed as tight aggressive. You get 2 callers in the blinds. SB is a very loose passive player, bets and check raises draws all day. BB is an older fellow who is tight passive. Flop comes T63 rainbow. They check to you, you bet, get 2 callers. Turn is a another T. Check to you again. You bet again, get 1 caller in the SB. River is a K. The SB now leads out! What do you do? What range of hands can he have? Should you call, fold or even raise?

Question 3. You have won 2 pots in a row and the game is now a kill pot. You then win another 2 pots on top of that for 4 in a row and people are really starting to fear you at the table it seems. You post $6 and happen to be in the BB anway, which is fortunate. You look down at the ol' Gus Hansen T8o. There was a limper UTG and the older tight passive player limped as well. You check. Flop comes 79J rainbow giving you the nut straight. A quick glimpse around the table reveals that the UTG player has started to load up on chips perhaps not realizing that he doesn't go first. You obviously check, he bets, and tight old guy calls. What do you do? How do you play the nuts in first position when people fear you?

Regardless of that first answer let's call that 3a). You're obviously not folding. Now a Q comes on the turn making KT the nuts. What do you do now? How do you extract maximum value? This is question 3b).

Post your comments, I'll be back in a couple days after hearing responses with my answers. They might not be right, but at least I'll tell you what I did. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Thanksgiving blog to follow this one!

2005-11-19T17:52:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Tucson!

Now, I don't really like this picture of me, but considering that I haven't posted a picture of me since I left, I felt like I had to at some point. Besides, the really nice part of it is the sunset anyways...

It didn't come out nearly as good as the picture of Karen there:

So we flew into Tucson on Monday morning, after leaving Texas at 645am, flying to Dallas for a 3 hour layover, then off to Tucson. We got in at 12:15pm and Karen was also flying in from NY. Her flight landed right after mine and we got our rental car and headed up to the hotel. They gave us a mid-size car, and told us they had a Chevy HHR. Karen had never seen one, but I glimpsed one last month in Indiana and thought it looked pretty cool. Kinda cheap-futuristic-ish, but I liked it. Karen warmed up to the car over time as it handles really well.

Nothing really exciting happened on Monday, just did some laundry and got lost trying to find the mountain trail that would bring us to a good view of the sunset. Tuesday we went to the mall and did some damage. I guess it's an inherent feeling of living out of a suitcase looking at the same clothes over and over again. Oddly though, I only bought a couple shirts, a pair of jeans, a black fleece for when we play in cold pits, and a pair of black sneakers, as I only have one, and I wear them every day. "But Gregg", I can hear some of you asking..."where did you get that track jacket from the first picture?" The answer may shock you. Urban Outfitters had a mega sale starting on Wednesday and I got that jacket for $5!!! Yup yup, $5. (This is more of an inside joke as people on tour are sick of me talking about my $5 jacket.)

Tuesday night, Karen sat in the pit with me for act II and afterwards we went to a local bar people raved about called "Frog and Firkin". The kitchen closed like .23420390 seconds before we got there, so we had a beer and relaxed outside at one of the outdoor tables. On the other side of where we were, there was a free poker tournament going on. Apparently there is a Pub League out here and it travles from bar to bar. It had also started before we got there, and couldn't get a seat.

Wednesday we went back downtown to eat at Frog and Firkin. We met up with Jeff (trumpet player) and Steve (trombone player) for lunch. Afterwards we walked around the college downtown, went to Urban Outfitters and later went to the aforementioned mountains you see above you. Karen came to see the show that night, and although there were technical malfunctions that night, the show went off well and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Thursday morning we woke up and watched Lost and South Park from the night before that SOMEHOW magically appeared on my computer. Oh the internet, you do everything...It was then that Karen had to go to the airport to go back to NY. It was certainly a great visit and I can't wait to come home in a month!

Thursday night there was a cabaret by the perfomers in the show here at IBT, the gay bar here in town. It was a great time with everyone singing songs NOT from Oklahoma, thank god. The locals weren't really having it though, but that didn't ruin the night at all. Afterwards, Steve, Jeff, Andy (who plays Judd) and I went out to the straight bars. Stuff closed kinda early though so we only had till about 1:30 before heading home. A very fun night indeed.

I found the casino on Thursday too. I'll post soon about Thurs and Friday's sessions. I'll leave it in a new post so my family can weed through it as it will have poker jargon they won't understand/care about. Some very interesting play indeed, and in my opinion, the best poker that I personally have played in a while. Wow, this is a long post, it took all of Act II today!!

2005-11-12T15:35:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Galveston, Texas

Ok, so I'm not in this picture, but this is the hot tub from our hotel in beautiful Galveston, TX. Most of you don't know who these people are, so from L to R: Karyn, Jillanne, Heidi, Matt (back) and Kasey. This was this afternoon before we got to the theater, where I am currently, typing in my dressing room.

We got here yesterday, had a show last night, and some of us stuck around town to hit up a local bar, Molly's. Last call is around 2, but we left around 1:30 and headed back to the hotel. I got the brilliant (albeit slightly drunk) idea that going in the hotel hot tub area would be a great idea. So I went up to my room to get a towel and headed to the hot tub which was lit up very nicely.
Had a great time just relaxing with some people in the hot tub till about 330, then passed out asleep. Little headachey this morning, headed down to Wendy's for some food, and afterwards bought a new hat and sunglasses. I'm at the theater now for a 3:00 and an 8:00 show. Well, we have one more show tomorrow night in Texarkana, TX, then we fly off to Tucson where we'll be all next week. Updates might be slow next week as Karen will be visiting and we plan on doing some day trips and having the show at night. See ya soon!

2005-11-11T03:10:00.000-05:00

Hey all. So this week after having a great time in Fayetville, we had a day off on Monday, a "golden day" as it's known. This is a day with no show and no travel. Had to enjoy it as it is our last day until the end of the leg where we clearly have all day off to do whatever we like. On that day, I headed up to Walmart and bought the new Star Wars: Battlefront II game, and the new James Bond game, From Russia With Love.

People were going to "On the Border" for dinner and margaritas around 630ish, then seeing Chicken Little. I however, not over my sickness yet, was exhausted. I took some Sudafed and passed out from 6-10pm. This was the worst time ever to do this as we had a really early bus call the next morning and I had napped and would likely be up all night. Well, I was up till 430 and we had a 7am leave, which meant a 630 load time for the bus.

To those who are not familiar with a typical day for me, it goes something like this. Depending on how far the venue is from where we are the night before, we leave anywhere from 7-10am. We stop for lunch in between 11 and 12 for an hour, then back to the road. We usually arrive at the hotel around 2 or 3, have time to shower or whatever, then back on the bus to bring us to the venue around 5ish for soundcheck, fight call, and then, have a little time off, do the show, pack my drums up, get on the bus back to the hotel, sleep, get up, repeat.

That's only when we're at a venue for 1 night. Granted there's alot of nights like this on this tour, we have 3-7 day sitdowns which is nice. Another nice perk for me specifically is that my drums travel with the trucks for the show, and there's someone who has the job of setting up the pit in each city, including my drums. Tonight was the first night that everything was more or less perfect, just a couple tweaking things here and there, but it was great tonight.

Tuesday and Wednesday we played Monroe, LA. Man does that place ever smell! They claimed it was on swampland and that was the reason, but whew! That place was just nasty, nice venue though. Today we drove to Tyler, TX and did a show at the University of Texas. What a beautiful space that is. The hall had amazing acoustics, everything just sounded amazing. 2,000+ seats, we filled them all, and they had a great time. I'm also getting amazingly good at loading out my drums (packing them up). I've discovered that since the book scenes can get a little long, I can pack up any unnecessary percussion instrument that I don't use in the show anymore. By the time the show is really over, I have only half of what I started with in front of me. I got a little self concious of people in the balcony being able to see the drummer packing up equipment DURING the show, but hey, we're only here for 1 night, oh well!

Tomorrow morning, really today as it's 2:45am when I'm writing this, we're driving down to Galveston, TX. BUSH COUNTRY INDEED!!! Ironically, I bought the new Al Franken book today The Truth (with jokes). I plan on putting it on my drums tonight so I might get shot by a curious audience memeber!

So yeah, I don't really WORK that hard on this job. I get driven around to places across the country, have someone set up my gear and transport it for me, play a show that's not terribly hard, and go to Walmart on my days off. Ok, maybe that's just positive thinking as I AM on a bus with 28 other people that I say EVERY day for the next 6 months. I do the SAME show every night, and Walmarts look generally the same. Also, family, friends and Karen are sorely missed. But hey, I'm an optimist.

Once I get more pictures taken, they will be put up. I apologize for my laziness in this matter.

2005-11-06T03:47:00.000-05:00

So where did I leave off last time. Ahh yes, Halloween...

We stayed in College Station until Thursday. We drove to Shreveport, LA that morning and got to the hotel around 2PM. Left for the theater around 445 to go to sound check. Did sound check, signed a few autographs for the collectible posters, and then did the show. Loaded out my drums because we were only there for the one night. Funny story for the night though:

In the Overture, when we hit the "Oklahoma" theme, there's an orange "OKLAHOMA!!" logo that comes up on the front scrim. However, when it came up this night in Shreveport, the logo was upside down. Some quick thinking from the projectionist decided to flip it but apparently it got stuck and then stayed vertical, not even fitting at all on the scrim. After some more flipping, they probably decided that if we made it correct now, it would appear as though this was all a giant mistake. So how do we through the public off from thinking such a thing? The brilliant move of just rotating the logo VERY quickly for the rest of the overture. Spin Spin Spin Spin Spin etc. A good laugh was had by all.

The company manager, stage manager, and reed player walked with me down the streets to the El Dorado Casino. My first live game in 2 weeks! The 1/2 NL game was 11 people deep, but the 4/8 limit HE game was open seating so I sat on down. We could only afford to stay for an hour as we had to be back on the bus by 7am the next morning. So the 4th hand I'm sitting for I get the ol, QJs in the cutoff. The game was very passive, and this is a hand I play anyway in this type of game so I limped in. 5 way action, we took of flop of KT9 with 2 clubs. Jackpot! No scare cards came off and I had 2 people paying me off on every street for a nice little pot. This would be the only hand I'd win for the session. A few bad beat stories that no one wants to hear, so I'll just give you the net result. Poker session = 1 hour. -$16 for the session. Not bad really, but I'm sure I could've beaten that game up if I had more time. There was only one person to worry about and he looked like Chau Giang. The person to the left of me just called with the nuts on the river because he didnt' realize he acted last in that particular hand.

The next day we drove to Fayetville, Arkansas, which is where I am now. Fayetville is a kickass town with some great bars and shops. Had dinner tonight inbetween shows at the Hog Brewery, or something like that. Had the beer sampler which had all different kinds of beers. Banana Wheat something, one had a carmel taste, one a blueberry taste, one was a stout, another was a red ale. Good place, good service, and real close to the performing venue which is gorgeous! We've had really good sales so far for the past 2 weeks, playing venues no smaller than 1200 seats, and selling no less than 80% of tickets. This weekend alone in AR, is booked at 98%. Everyone seems to love the show and we get treated really well wherever we go.

We have these cool backstage passes and there's always rooms with free foods and drinks in each city. Each place usually sets out 5 posters for everyone in the show to sign so they can display it after we leave as well. Listen to me, I sound like such an idiot. Also, being on tour is pretty cool, because you NEVER have to clean up after yourself. You're in town for one day? Housekeeping will clean it up, not a problem. This may turn into a really bad idea for later in life when I return home. (It may already be, just has to be decided)

In other news, I'm still kinda sick. Just really congested, it's been about a week now. More people are getting it now too, so people are just breaking down. Also, I'm getting lonely sometimes and miss people from back home. Karen's coming out in a little over a week to Tucson though, which will be much needed time to hang out and relax as I only have night shows for the time she's here. Also, there's a casino 2 exits away.....but that's not for another 8 days. Thanks you guys for reading, whoever is actually reading this mess. I'll be back after the weekend with another update as we go back through Louisiana and Texas again. Later!

2005-11-01T17:51:00.000-05:00

Halloween 2005

This is my favorite costume from last night

Mr. Slave!!!! Brilliant...

This is how we roll to the movies...rockstar parking always. Actually, wherever we go we get rockstar parking, no walking ever...

Saw Saw II last night, having never seen Saw I, I went in fresh. I really enjoyed it, even though Karen said Saw I was awful, and she had no intrest seeing the sequel. It was mindless entertainment with a novel twist. I have to go back and see Saw I now. Well, that's all for me right now, we have our official opening in a couple hours here in Texas. Go Aggies!!!

2005-10-31T13:31:00.000-05:00

Walmart Pics...

This is a skeleton doing the robot...It's funnier in person I suppose

Turkey Time...must be popular, only one was left on the shelves. It sang The Chicken Song using only "gobble gobble gobble" as the words. High praise indeed. Again, guess you had to be there.

2005-10-30T23:53:00.000-05:00

After our 2nd preview in Indiana, we were invited to a very rich man's house in Wabash, the town we were in. His company is Honeywell Industries, who do all the meters for houses or something. They also do all the manhole covers all over the country. His house was huge and had an atrium down to the bottom floor...

He also had an indoor pool.

He also just recently finished a waterfall in the middle of his property. The only way out there is on a golf cart ride in the woods. I'm not making this up.

Houston-

is a very fun city. We flew into Dallas from Indianapolis on Saturday. After a quick layover, we got on our 45 minute flight to Houston. It was there that we met our bus, our "home" for the next 6 months. We drove to our hotel, and had all day off which was nice. Another trip to the Walmart brought 2 funny picture moments, pics to come soon.

We partied it up in Houston, going to Slick Willie's Family Pool Hall, a great pool bar with awesome tables. We had a few drinks there and took a cab back to the hotel where I went to a Jack in the Box for the 1st time. Only the drive-thru was open, but I lacked the necessary device of a car. With quick thinking, I saw an employee leaving in her car, and flagged her down and gave her the sob story about how I'm from NY, where they don't have any Jack in the Box's. I pleaded for her to get us some food, and she obliged. I made my way back to the room and drifted off to sleep.

Today we went drove to College Station Texas to Texas A&M Univ. Just hung out here pretty much all day, got some food, some Coldstone Creamery (Cookie Minster...yum). Then I started feeling sick. My allergies are awful, eyes all swollen, congested, feel like crap basically. Also my lips are insanely chapped, and hurt like crazy. It's been 70 degress all the time here in Texas, maybe the dry air is doing it? Discuss....

2005-10-28T13:14:00.000-04:00

It's Opening Night.....

Well, it was last night. The show went really well with only one minor hiccup, but alls well that ends well. There was a party at a local restaurant around the corner with some good music and the always good, free drinks. Stuff gets shut down pretty early 'round these parts, so we continued the party at another bar....only it was 20 miles away. Luckily for me, I brought the new South Park Dvd's and popped one into our Dvd Minivan. I've never been so happy to ride in the backseat of a minivan of my life. I forgot how funny these episodes are to watch in a group of people, and I can honestly say I enjoy everyone I'm with so far. Well, kind of a free day off today, we have a show tonight, and then we load out, and fly to Houston tomorrow morning. Hopefully no Astros fans will be looking to jump off buildings when we arrive.

2005-10-26T17:39:00.000-04:00

It was a big day....Sad that this actually made me excited, and gave me motivation to get through rehearsal. But I managed to get the new Grand Theft Auto game for my new PSP.

Things are going really well out here I must say. I miss home a bit, but I think this whole thing will turn out to be alot of fun. Of course I say that now, I'll probably be bitching when we're on a bus all day to the venue.

On other news, I got the best care package ever from Karen today. Had everything I like, damn is she good! Well, I'm off to work (pokerstars), then other work (Oklahoma). Later!

2005-10-25T18:55:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of my setup in the pit....yes, i am a rockstar

2005-10-25T11:20:00.000-04:00

Poker Stars is giving away money!!!

Well, not them really, but the idiotic players are giving their own money away. Get on there while the gettin's good!

How do I turn this damn bold off?

2005-10-24T03:55:00.000-04:00

First day of rehearsal is in the books.

Had 6 hours of rehearsal today, and I thought it went really well. Great group of players in the group and they're all alot of fun. Which makes me really happy as I have to see them all for the next 6 months.

I don't know why this part is in bold, but I can't change it back. We had dinner at Ponderosa which is a steakhouse and a buffet. We had a good meal and went back to have the 2nd half of rehearsal. After rehearsal I got some snacks and checked some email. Simpson then challenged me to a heads up match for $5 on Pokerstars. I said no, but then agreed. He beat me real quick as I didn't put up much of a fight and made a lot of stupid calls when I knew I was beat.

My roomate Ira, who coincidentally has the same laptop I do, just with the one size bigger screen, and also plays online poker. What are the odds that I would be paired with someone like that? Anyways, he was multitabling on Pokerroom and I made some phone calls and such. I decided to play a $38 6 handed SNG where the top 2 cash. I finished 4th with no real exciting play. Just missed some draws and ran low on chips, pushing in with K4o on the button and the BB woke up with 88. I missed, and was out.

To make my buy-in back I logged a couple hours on the 1/2 NL tables, my bread and butter the past few weeks. I only played for 30 min on first table, made $28 and then people left and the game essentially broke.

I moved over to another table where while waiting to post my blind saw a guy get hit with the deck and make over $300 on 2 hands. I got KK 3x in 7 hands and made $110 from that player alone.

That's where I stand right now. Taradise was just on E! and I feel dumber having watched it. It's amazing I'm somehow winning at this game. The Outer Limits is on now, but time for bed soon. Thanks for reading, I'll put pictures up as soon as I take some!

2005-10-22T19:09:00.000-04:00

Greetings from...Wabash...

You remember Wayne's World when they're doing the different cities and they say "Welcome To ...Dela...ware". But they have lifeless looks on their faces? Yeah, that's pretty much Wabash, Indiana. Literally, farms to the right of me, and soon to be farms behind me. Yup...that's how I roll apparently.

Got in today after flying from Islip to Baltimore, waiting 3 hours then flying to Indianapolis. Then a 98 minute car ride later, and here I am...in the middle of nowhere. Single tear...

Well, it's off to the first theater to set up my drums for rehearsal tomorrow. Expect pics of reeeal flat land and whatever funny stuff I can find later. Enjoy!

2005-10-16T13:31:00.000-04:00

Long Time, No Type

Keep your eyes peeled on this page to see all the wonders of the Oklahoma National Tour. Pics, stories, Lost, and as much poker as I can play. Thank you to everyone who came last night to my going away party. You will all be missed!

2005-05-06T12:10:00.000-04:00

Too Much To Say

There's been so many games lately, I don't have time to write about all them what with traveling and working, and all that jazz. But some interesting times have come up and I thought I'd share them with everyone.

Well, after struggling for a while to get my foot in the door in a Broadway show, or a touring company, the roof fell in on me this week. First off, musicians are different than actors as far as how we get jobs. Actors audition for the casting department and are seen and therefore hired as to how they look. Musicians get calls from other musicians based on how they performed in another show. Now, politics can come into play here, as if I were on a show, I'd want my friends to be there too. So, you have to break the barrier and get in there somehow. Well, I've been trying all different tactics. Calling people about their friends, calling people that are in the shows themselves, calling production offices. Nothin'.

Well, I went to go pick up my paper work for my job in the city, and a woman was there, and somehow it came up that her friend was the drummer at the new B'way show at Lincoln Center. I jokingly said "we should get in touch" and she was like "ok!" Before I knew it, she took down my info and now it was time to play the waiting game. Flash forward to the next night, and I get a call from a 212 number. I think "maybe it's broadway" and wouldn't you know it, it is! So she talked to him and he agreed to meet with me and I called him the next day. He later called me and we decided to meet up on Saturday at the theater so that I could sit in the pit and watch the show.

That same day, I got an email from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to go out and do a show on one of their ships for 4-6 months! This, and Gateway starts next week! So I've got all these options lined up in the air right now, and last night, I get a call from Billy, the b'way guy. He tells me that he has to cancel our plans for Saturday as another guy is coming in to watch, because he's playing the show for him next week. So, broadway cancelled on me, but next week we'll be back on. I also have to make a deicision about Royal Caribbean. I don't know how long I want to be out of NYC if i finally start making my rounds as a Broadway Sub. This decision can wait however for a bit longer....

Ok, now what you all came here for...some poker stories!!

Well, Eddie's game has been up and down. 3 weeks ago, I was in the zone, really ran into no trouble whatsoever and cruised on to a victory. The key hand was when we were 5 handed and it folded to me on the button. I loved my position and I would've tried to steal, but I picked up a hand ATs. With the blinds at 400/800 with a 100 ante, I raised to 3000. The SB called me and he had so far liked to check raise all in with any piece of the flop. He had done it 2x so far at the final table alone, and 3x at the table we were at before. We took a flop of Ah9s6h. He checked and I bet 9000. He thought and said he'd put me all in, and has me covered. Now usually he just does it without thinking, so I got confused as he threw a monkey wrench in there. I figured I was good and I had to call here. I did, and he turned over KTh! Well, I've just gotta sweat the flush draw. Board finishes out club club, and I get a huge chip lead.

2 weeks ago, I come in 12th place out of 31, nothing exciting. This past week, I make the final table, and make a bonehead play of opening UTG with KJo and calling an allin for double my bet. Eddie pushes in also on the shortstack and has AK, the allin player has QQ, I can't win. Well, I flopped a J just to be cute, but it was not meant to be. Out 10th/27. On a good note, I firmed up my 2nd place spot on the overall points list, and get to start the freeroll with 170K with blinds starting at 500/1000 and the levels change every 45 minutes! I expect to do well in this kind of situation.

Well, at the Gateway last night, I had asked a couple of the regulars that are back, if they wanted to play some cards, and we had about 6 people for a game, which is great. Usually, we have to struggle for a 6 person game. When I got to the theater, 15 people wanted to play, and we ended up starting with 2 tables. Final table would be at 7 and top 3 pay out. We made it to the final table and there were 4 of us left. With 6900 chips I raised to 2400 in the SB with 6s6c, one caller. Flop comes 3s7s7c. I move in for my remaining 4500, and get called immediatly by 2h2d?!?!? Ok, that's cool, turn is the 9s. Very good, now he has to catch the one deuce that isn't the 2s, giving me a flush. Well, the 2c peels off on the river, and I bubble. I shook his hand and wished them luck, thems the breaks. Honestly, what could I do different?

Then this morning, I watch a little more of the World Poker Open from WPT this week. I decide to splash around a little 1/2 NL on Bodog before my shower, and the first hand I flop middle pair and a flush draw. Turn is no help, and the river makes my 2 pair with J5, and I call a bet to a made straight. Well, -$15 now. 3 hands later, I get KsKc and an early position player goes all in for $7. Another player calls and the next player makes it $32. I decide to flat call thinking everyone else will fold. Well, the button calls, as do both original callers. Hmmmm...this pot is huge. Flop comes 3c6c7c. One player bets 12.50, 2 callers including me and another player pushes in for my remaining $139. Fold Fold (after all that they've invested??) and I decide to call, if he has Aces, then what can I do? He has QhQs. It's ironic that I have to sweat anothe 1 outer just like last night, although this is for 42x more money...Turn is in a 8 to give the original all in player the sidepot with his straight (910). River is a blank and I collect the $427 side pot. Not bad for just waking up! I cashed out soon thereafter and went to work...which is where I am now. Leave your comments for me as usual. Later!

2005-04-28T13:57:00.000-04:00

My take on Tieds' Poker Game

Tieds had a really nice 8 person tourney on Tuesday, and what a better way to relax than playing a little poker. The structure was nice and deep starting with 5K in chips and blinds at 25/50. The first hand of the night i picked up 7h8h. I raised it in MP to 150, and just Ditty called. The flop came 7s3s3c. He checked, I bet 300, and he flat called. The turn came a blank and he checked. I think I bet around 500 or so, and he folded. He later claimed to have had a 7, but figured me for an overpair. Wbew.

I ran into some cold cards after that, and came into a cheap pot with 59d on the button. Dennis called in the SB and Bob checked. The flop came 743 with one diamond. It checked around, and a 2 came out on the turn, checked around again. Finally a 9 came out on the river and Bob bet out 600. I didn't think this was a play that could net me more money if I raised, I'd either get re-raised or he'd fold, so I decided to call. Bob mucked before I could show my pair, I assume he had a hand like K high or something. As I wrote this, I realized it was really boring.

Long went on a pretty cold streak apparently, and never really entered any pots. When he did, he was able to triple up, but then was soon eliminated. Ditty went quickly as well. Dennis had built up quite a stack at this point and was being quiet, followed by patches of agression. I figured he would try to steal whenever, but I had a hard time picking up a hand to counter with. We'll deal with Dennis at the end of this blog.

The swing hand of the tournament came after Tieds busted Bob (who for having a lot of chips to start with, played quite quietly.) It was only fitting though because Tieds and Bob love to tangle, never played a hand against each other all night, and then the one hand they DID play together, one of them was eliminated.

Anyway, the swing hand went like this. The action folded to Tieds on the button and he raised to 1200 with blinds at 200/400. Simpson folded in the SB and I wake up with 66 in the BB. I elect to call, after thinking about re-raising in this spot. I did some math and didn't want to get pot commited to the hand before a flop with this hand out of position. I called the 1200 and we saw a flop of AJx. I ran through the possibilities on this hand and decided that it could go 3 ways: I check (I lose), I go all in (It looks too obvious, I probably get called by a better hand), or I make a modest bet (in which I put him to the test, and can fold if he moves in.) I decided to bet 2400, but then took one $500 chip and make it $1900. The pot now was around 2800. Tieds had about 7K left so I figured this would be a good play. Also, the J gave me some cover if he had an underpair to it. My only way to win this hand is to bet, and hope for the best. Tieds actually looked like he was going to move in on me, but folded his 9's face up. I did the same just for advertising for later.

This gave me a nice stack and Tieds wound up exiting in 4th place. Now onto Dennis. He had quite a stack going in and was being really agressive whenever he had the button and in the blinds preflop. I had to make a stand to let him know I wouldn't let him control the table all the time. Dennis was on the button, and raised it to 2500 with the blinds at 400/800 and a 100 ante. Simpson folded and I found AQo in the BB. I had 8400 left. I thought about it for a while and decided that calling was a very weak play here, and I certainly couldn't fold. Based on the amount of times he was raising per round, I had to take a chance that I had the best hand. I moved in for a raise of 5900. Dennis pondered and folded.

Next hand, I have AK in the SB and I raise it to 2600. I collect the blinds again. Then when Dennis was on the button again, he raised it to 2500 again, and I find 99 this time. Again, I go all in hoping that he'll call this hand with A rag hoping I was just setting him up for before. He folds again, and is now the short stack. 2 hands later, on the button, I find A5 and raise it to 2600. Dennis now decides to go all in after much deliberation, and I immediatly called as I knew I had the best hand. He had K10 of clubs, and the door card was an Ace. Now it was down to Simpson and I, heads up.

We played many hands just with limping and checking it down, and I realied that he didn't want to play any big pots with me, so my best bet was to flop a monster and hope to trap. He probably had the same thing going through his head. Hopefully I could try and steal as much as I could. Turns out I didn't need to as I picked up a pair, AJ, and AQ all fairly quickly and won some pots preflop uncontested. The last hand went like this: Simpson raised double the blinds and I called with 57d. The flop came J46, and I was first to act. I decided to bet 3500, and win it right there. Then Simpson moved in on me! Hmmm well, I know 7 high can't be the best hand here, but Simpson is offering me all his chips if I can draw to the nuts. I have him covered so if I lose, the tournament is not over. I rationalize that Simpson will not give me another opportunity to get his chips like this in such a spot where I have enough outs, so I decide to call. He has JT and the turn is a 5. Ok, so now I have 14 outs instead of 9. The river is another 5, and my trips win the pot, the tournament and I go home $100 winner.

I liked my play tonight as I didn't need to bluff alot, and got cards when I needed to, but made the correct plays with the cards I was given. Well, that's all from me now, on a short note, I placed 12th in Eddie's last night out of 31 players. I really padded my lead a bit for the top spot, with only one week remaining. If I'm on my game next week, I could be hard to pass for the chipleader of the freeroll. Let's all hope so anyways.

Ditty, thank you for posting, it makes me feel as though people actually read this mess. People should follow suit and say what's up!

2005-04-24T22:30:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Florida

So I'm here in the lovely state of Florida, visiting my parents. It's a great vacation and I spend the mornings at the pool catching some sun, listening to my Ipod and going for a swim. But...I found some card rooms too! First stop was on Thursday all the way down in Hollywood to visit the Hard Rock Casino. Fun little place, but it was then I realized some major differences with how we gamble up north.

First off, there's no table games. None. So you're probably thinking, Gregg, what do they have? Well, they have slot machines. But they're not really "true" slot machines. They're basically video bingo. Picture this: A bingo card above the animated slot graphics. Then you put your money in and hit the button. You see what happens and get paid accordingly. But...if you just look above at the bingo card when you hit the button, you can see before the graphics ever load, if you have a winner by seeing if the line is complete with red marks. So, it's instant gratification if that's what you like, but to me it just felt cheap.

So, blackjack is illegal, which I hear they're working on, so the only other thing they have is poker. Perfect! So what game did I play? Let's see, was it 3/6, 4/6, 5/10? Well, after looking for a game higher than 2/2, I was told that Florida only allows a max bet of $2. $2? WTF?

I put my name on a list and get one of those beeper/pager dealies that lights up and vibrates when you have a table at TGI Friday's. I waited for about 20 min and got a seat at the 2/2 game. It's weird just saying it...2/2.

So how do you play a 2/2 game? Well, the blinds are 1/2 and you bet $2 on every street. No doubling on the turn and river here folks, no way to trap anyone for extra bets or check raise on the turn for value...nope, just bet it out, and hope your good hands hold up. Well, we were kind of on a time restraint at the Hard Rock so I could only play for 90 min or so. In that time period, I made a profit of $165 in a game where you can only bet $2. It was crazy, and I didn't make a flush or a straight at any time. The best hand I was was a set of Queens. Top pair was ALWAYS good and you got overcalls like crazy. This is a new thing I try not to do, as it's a loose part of my game. Well, I got paid off like crazy, and it was time to go.

The next day, not much was going on and I decided to go down to West Palm Beach to go to the Palm Beach Kennel Club. Yes, a dog track, but the signs on I-95 told me they had a poker room with "new, higher limit games!" So I went on down, and signed up for....oh shit, they lied 2/2!!!

I began to think that maybe they had run .50/1 at one point, and this was their "new higher limit game." Well, I sat down at a 1/2 game first while I waited for a "straight 2" game to open up. Well, the 1/2 game threw me for a loop too. First off, there's only 1 blind....I'll repeat that. In a 1/2 game, there's only 1 blind. The Small Blind for $1. Then I figured you can raise up to 2 preflop. Ok, then the button raises from 1 to 3! Huh? I ask the dealer and you can raise in 1 or 2 dollar increments. Ahhh so up to $7 preflop, and you can lead out for either 1 or 2 on the flop, and raise in that increment. Gotcha. Well, I won $14 on this table and got called to my other game. This one was brutal. The long and short of it was that I got beat up and was a $85 loser. I guess it was beginner's luck.

Funny story I actually read online at Josh Arieh's website today that said he lost $1000 playing 2/4 the first time he played. And he only had $1100 to his name....haha..

I went back again today, Sunday. Again, nothing really going on. I decided to play a tournament as they're offered Sun-Thurs. Everyone who reads this is going to rib me, but it was a $45 tournament where you start with 800 chips, the blinds start at 25/50 and they go up every 10 min. Oh, and the fee works out to be 32+13, for about 29% juice!!!!

They call them "Turbo Tournaments" and I can see why. I wanted to try a strategy of "if i get a pair and there's action before me, I move in." Basically the same thing with any 2 big cards. It was definitly a gamble, I won't lie. Ok, on to the action!

The first hand I pick up 2 black Q's. Only having 800 chips and I'm UTG +1, I raise to 225. The player to my left quickly calls and everyone else folds making the pot 525. The flop comes A96 rainbow, and I hate this flop. I plan to check/fold, and the player checks behind me! The turn came a J, and I bet 300. The player folds, and I win the first pot. I'm in the BB 2 hands later a bunch of people limp and I have KJd. The SB bumps it another 100 and everyone calls. The flop comes K89 and the SB checks. I bet 300 and the guy to my left calls, everyone else folds. The turn is the Ad, and I push all in. The guy only has 100 left and he couldn't reach for it faster, it's now obvious he had A9 and I say "I think you got me, and he has AJ! Called 3/4 of his chips with no pair on the flop!!! WOW...the river is no help and I'm in trouble now.

Only having 450 left, I need to pick up a hand. The blinds have now gone up to 50/100 and I fold for a couple of hands. I eventually get AhQs in the cutoff and one player goes all in for 150, I push in for 450, I get called by that pesky player to my left, who I want a call from now, based on his crappiness earlier, and the SB goes all in for 275. Side pots a plenty and here's what I'm up against. SB has K2, MP player has A2, and the pesky guy has KJ, 2 live cards. Well, the flop came QJ3 alll clubs. The guy to my left has the Kc and honestly, I didn't even see that I had flopped the best hand, all I saw was that he paired his J and had a club draw. When the club draw hadn't gotten there, I announced that I was done, and started to get up. The dealer informed of my tomfoolery and I felt like an ass.

After busting 2 players getting a nice stack, I went on a run on the motormouth of the table in the 8 seat. The player in the 10 seat raised to 300, and I looked at 88 in the BB. I had to keep to my strategy and reraise with any hand I thought had value in it. I asked how much he had left, and he had another 300, which was definitly going in on the flop. I took a bunch of chips out of my hand and proceeded to make it 600, but I had 7 chips in my hand. The dealer told me that all the chips I brought out played, so the bet was 700. I was not too happy but obliged to the rules. The motormouth, who was the chipleader at this point, called quite smugly, and now I was concerned. The flop came KdJd8c. I was first to act, and no doubt had the best hand in my mind. Here's where the other guy made a cruicial mistake in my eyes. I only had 700 left roughly and would he call all of it here? It was then that I noticed him eyeing my stack and putting chips in his hand. Why would he do that and let me know he would call? I've seen plenty of people do that and be bluffing to get a free card, shit I've done it. But it was here that I knew I had to push in, no sense to trap, the pot was 2K. I pushed in and he called quickly with....99....yes, 99. Now why woud he call so quickly with 9's when those overcards came out and I had reraised before the flop. He almost seemed proud when he did it too, which made the next moments all that much sweeter. The dealer asked us what we had, to which I replied "just a set." The dealer lost it, apparently never hearing that one before. The other guy told me he had a set also, he was just gonna get it on the river, with no joking in his voice at all. Well, he didn't get it, and thankfully so. I then busted the pesky player to my left when we were 3 handed and I found A5c and moved in. He called with Q9o. The flop came A43, and it as over for him. After playing a few hands we decided to chop the pot, with both of us taking $160. We each tipped the dealer and with the cash game I played for 2 hours, I was a $101 winner today. Well, I leave on Tuesday, and I'll finally tell all about Eddie's game 2 weeks ago, and this past week, (one is more interesting than the other). Later, and leave comments dammit!!

2005-04-08T15:49:00.000-04:00

Strong showing in 2nd Bohemia Game

I went to Simpson's Bohemia game again last night, and enjoyed a 10 person deep stack tournament. At this game, you can pick wherever you want to sit, and with the other players probably not too keen on the art of position, I sat myself to the left of Tieds, and the most aggressive player that I remember from Tuesday. After noticing that I was on Tieds' left, he smoothly stated "You know what, this chair isn't that comfortable, I think I'll sit over here" and sat down directly to my left. Pretty funny stuff if you're Long, Simpson, Tieds or I.

The game as they see it, consists of hanging out and drinking beer and being loud. I almost think that some people think that if they lose a pot, their masculinity is in question, and are forced to call to "be a man." One guy did it with 5 high last night after Tieds went home.

I never drink anymore when I play cards, too many losing sessions. I prefer to play the game as well as I can, whenever I can. This being said, the beer started flowing promptly, and off we went to start the game!

I waited patiently for a little bit to see what kind of hands were being showed down. I caught alot of hands being won with middle pair, little kickers. I then raised every time I got 2 picture cards, KT, any Ax (with x being above 7). Funny that I mention KT, but I bluffed off alot of my chips when I got called down on the river with 4th pair! Tieds and I then conferred that why should I bluff off my chips here? They're going to call anyway, just don't get impatient. So, I buckled down and played some boring ass poker for a while.

The aggressive player from my right opened up with a raise to 14 with the blinds at 2/4. It folded to the player to the right of Simpson who re raised to 24. The button then went in for 165. He got 3 callers, and we only started with 265 chips. There was a side pot, then another side pot for another player who went all in with a flush draw that missed. The original raiser showed QJh, another player showed AJ, and the all-in player showed 89o!!! The AJ took it down when he turned an A.

Now, this player was obviously very late to a date with his girlfriend and she would keep calling him during the game. It was obvious that he was going to dump his chips eventually, I just had to be there to pick up the pieces. The problem was, he had so many, that playing recklessly with him could get costly.

Tieds would eventually raise with JJ and Long would move over the top with AA. They got it in and Tieds was eliminated.

I was now the short stack at the table, and when it was time for the blinds to go up, Long mentioned it. The owner of the house said that they should stay where they are because "we were betting." Knowing that I would be crippled if the blinds went from 5/10 to 10/20, and I only had 135 chips left, I thanked him verbally. To this he said "why are you thanking me?" It was then that I realized that he didn't know the logic of raising the blinds. I proceeded to say something in jibberish and shut up about it.

I managed to pick up some hands and had a slightly less than average stack when we lost another player. Now we were down to 4 people, and I found 7's in the SB and decided to call a raise from the HUGE stack with the girlfriend problem. I figured If I found a favorable flop, I could move in. The flop came 885. I moved in for 435, and it folded to the big stack who thought for a bit, and decided to call!!! The only problem was he flipped over 99!! DOH! I thanked everyone for the game and grabbed my jacket, and a 7 peeled off on the turn!!! No 9 came, and I was right back in it.

He was eliminated soon thereafter going in blind with J6 against Long's AQ. I had 7's again, and called his all-in, but Long pushed me out with a re-raise to 400. I questioned him on it at the time, but my 7's would've been no good as he flopped a J and Long turned an A.

Now we were down to 3. Long, myself, and the owner of the house who was...drunk....Well he had at least 9 beer cans behind him. Well, this hand came up and changed alot of things.

I got KhJs and decided to raise 3x the blind to 60, we were at 10/20. Both players called and the flop came Qh9h4h. I liked my hand here as to me, I had 15 outs that would give me the best hand. 9 hearts, 3 10's and 3 K's. I checked here, hoping to get a free card but would call any modest bet. It checked to the button and he bet 200, which was a huge bet so far. With the pot laying me a little less than 2-1 and my odds being close to 55%, I made the call. The turn was the Kc. I instantly moved in now for 435, and the button began to think...and think....and think...I figured I was good now, but he waited and waited and made the call. He flipped over J6h for a flopped flush!!! Geez....well, now I was down to 7 hearts in the deck giving me a 12% chance to win. Well, the 2h came on the river, and I took out the other player as I had him covered by 50 chips. Talk about getting lucky!

Heads up now between Long and I and we traded blinds like no tomorrow, rarely seeing a flop. The last hand went a little something like this. I called on the button with J6, and Long raised me 150 more. I called because this was his standard play. I planned on taking this hand away from him later. Well, the flop came TJQ rainbow and he bet 400 and I moved in. Questionable play? Probably, but I felt it was the best move at the time. He thought about for a long time and decided to call and flipped over AJ! Wow, that whole time he thought he was beat. I guess he gives me more credit than I thought. Well, the turn was a 8h, and the river was a 6s giving me two pair and the win for the evening. I got lucky 3 times exactly when I needed to last night, and it paid off in dividends. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.

2005-04-07T17:40:00.000-04:00

NOT...the King of Clubs...

Well, quite a hefty update for today. Since our last chat, many events have taken place. Let's start with some live ring game action the night after the heads up tournament.

I went to Hall's and played for a while and had a losing session. Probably around -$30 or so in a 3/6 game. After working in the city for most of the week I was home on Wednesday and went to Eddie's game as per usual. I forget how many people he had, probably around 26 (that's the danger in me taking time off during reports, I forget details and stuff.) Actually, after checking his website, http://www.freewebs.com/lpt1 there were 26 people. Nothing really eventful happened and I made the final table, and was busted out first, coming in 10th. I seem to be having trouble in these events lately. Overall, I'm just about even in my winnings/event fees, cashing 2 times with one win. The win was $265 and I had a 3rd place for $90. So I'm +25 for this season so far. Oh well, better than being down $330.

I came home again on Friday night and ended up playing a tournament at Hall's for what reason I'm not sure. I don't know why, but it seems to me that I feel like every time I play there I feel rushed. I asked Mike to raise the chip amount to play some more solid poker as I felt like we were moving in every hand after an hour. He agreed, and we played a good game actually. I had a big hand where I had 2 black aces 2 off the button. With the blinds at 75/150, I raised to 525, and Hall just called, but looked like he wanted to raise. I'm guessing he didn't put me on a big hand and was going to try and take it from me later. We got one other caller, a very loose guy in the SB. Flop came 3 rags with all spades. I decided to bet 2/3 of what Hall had left so he had no choice but to push in if he wanted to call. He pushed in and I called. Hall showed QsQh. I had him down to the last 2 queens because of my As. No help for him, and Hall made an early exit. I made it down to the final 4, and was knocked out after my 6's did not hold up against AJ.

Now on to Tuesday of this week. I did not go to Hall's season tournament because I don't like the idea of paying extra money that I can't compete for later in the freeroll as I am not available for the whole season. (Run on sentence maybe?) Instead, Simpson brought me to a new game in Bohemia that is detailed on http://www.tieds.com/pn. I had a hard time adjusting to the game and the way that it was run. In my opinion, they took the action out of the game, by increasing the blinds when they felt like it instead of at predetermined times. I got bored and antsy about 2.5 hours sitting through and bluffed off alot of chips with KJ and someone called on the river with A2 for top pair but no kicker. The horror was that as he was calling he said "I know I'm beat." I don't know why you would put money into a pot if you "knew you were beat." That's just assinine to me, I don't mind anyone calling me down, but don't say you're beaten as you do it.

I left there and went to Hall's 3/6 game around 11:30. I sat down and was stuck about $84 out of my $100 buy in in about an hour. I then went on a run of cards like you wouldn't believe and went from having $14 to $245 at my highest peak. I had KK and the flop came K33, and I couldn't get any action. But my good hands held up most of the night, and I was able to get paid off most of the time. I went down to even for the night, and thought about cashing out. I decided to stay however, and ran my stack up to $180 and cashed out.

Now....Eddie's last night. Well, I ran well in the tournament and the field was pretty deep, 29 players. I got Aces in the first level of the tournament and there was a raise before me to 250. I decided to smooth call it in MP with hopes of action before me to build a pot. This being the relatively smart game it is, people respected the action, and got out of the way. Flop came KQ7 rainbow. He led out 200 and I thought about a good amount I could get out of him, but the KQ scared me as this was the only 2 pair I could see him having if he had me beat. I decided to find out and raise it to 600. He eventually folded, and he asked the dealer to run out the cards. He was happy to see the 10 on the river and said he would've won, so I assume he had AJ. Good way to win that pot when I did.

I then ran into the force that is Joline, Eddie's girlfriend at the table. She has an uncanny way of getting a huge amount of chips early on in a tournament, and where was she? Directly to my left. She lost a couple of big pots by calling all ins with AJ when she was dominated and other assorted situations. So, I think mentally she decided her only move was all in. However, I didn't find this out until I opened 2 pots with a 3-4x raise, and she went over the top for like 15x more. I had to wait for a hand where I could trap her into doing this again, but I literally could not pick up a hand until we made a final table.

So down to the final 10, I have 5500 with the blinds at 300/600 with a 100 ante. It's costing me 1900 this orbit alone, and the blinds are going up to 400/800 in 6 minutes. I have to double up or go home. I basically just want to find an Ace and move in. Well, it didn't take long. Sof went out in 10th place after having a nice stack and getting decimated by Eddie in a hand before and losing with his JJ the very next hand. Down to 9, I found an A in MP. There were 2 folders and I saw the Ac, and didn't look at the next one, ala Doyle on the WSOP freeroll. I moved in for 4800 and got a short stack of 600 and another short stack of 2000 to call me. Now Joline, my archnemesis in the BB, goes all in!!!! We all flip over and short stack #1 has A2o. Short stack #2 has A10o. I have A4c...well...er...they're suited...and Joline?? Well of course she was KK! The flop comes 993 with 2 clubs!! I couldn't ask for a better flop, cause I'm dead to any A. I scream for a club, but NOT the King of Clubs. Well, almost like I had asked for it to appear, the turn was the Kc, and I nearly lost it. I was dead to her full house. I left in 7th place because of all the short stacks, I had the most chips. What I didn't like was that there were people below me on the stat sheet who will now catch up to me and now my ranking is perhaps in jeopardy. Well, that's all for me. I'm going to Simpson's friend's crazy game tonight. I have to make a better showing this time. Later!

2005-03-25T12:23:00.001-05:00

Heads Up Tournament, and some reckless play...

I drew Dennis in the first round of the Heads Up tournament. The brackets were:

Dennis/Gregg
Long/Lehman
Tieds/Moneymaker
Simpson/Dycka

I had said going in that our match would be the longest. I would think that the Simpson/Dycka match would be long too, and most people were done within 40 min. But not us...nope, we played for just over 2 hours! It was grueling, and Dennis is a tough opponent as he bluffs a hell of alot more in heads up, I guess you have to. I hit a couple of rough spots early on and lost confidence and was done about 700 chips. I then went on a spree of 2 pair flops and nut draws that developed and worked my way to be up 50 chips.

It was then that Dennis slowed down finally and I got to play my game, or at least control how it would be played. As long as I stayed patient I was sure that I could win this game. I eventually raised 4x the BB 7 hands in a row, regardless of what I had and wore him down until he came back at me preflop one hand and I had Q9. I called his raise this time and the flop came A94. I checked, he went all in, and I called. He said "oh...shit" and that's when I knew it was pretty much over. He had J8 i believe and almost hit runner runner straight, but did not.

I then played Long and was quite frankly tired. We battled back and forth, and I set the tone early with my aggressiveness. Against Long, I think you have to because he loves to push chips around when he has them. I turned a straight against him and went all in on the river after he raised my bet. I bet 250, and he raised to 700. I could have MAYBE gotten a little more out of him, but the play looked too strong in retrospect.

I got 99 and won a nice pot, and out of nowhere, I seemed to lose a lot of chips. I don't even know how it happened, but he must have chipped away at me, and I didn't even realize it. I guess calling too many preflop raises and folding when I miss. He raised typically preflop and I had AK. I decided not to go all in, but raise 700 more. He called, and the flop came all spades with no picture cards. I had no spades but pushed all in, and he called instantly with A6s for the nuts. I was drawing dead and that was it.

I then jumped into the NL cash game which was .25/.25 blinds and a max buyin of $20. I played almost every hand and actually won some of them, but for the most part I was the big loser. I just couldn't focus on the game when a raise preflop was cheaper than the BB for the game I usually play. But Tieds was right, and by calling that many hands, I wasn't leaving myself enough to play after the flop for the most part. Oh well, these things happen.

2005-03-25T12:23:00.000-05:00

2005-03-24T17:16:00.000-05:00

Ahhhh, the swings

Part 2 of what I started last week but never finished. Later that night, Karen and I decided to play craps. Well, I've decided that I don't really like or hate this game. When I win, I love it, when I lose, I hate it with a passion. One of the fastest ways to lose $100 and your confidence all in one. The dice passed ONCE while we were there, and they crapped out 5 times out of 7 before a point was thrown. So, we decided to play some blackjack. Admittedly, these are not my games, but Karen feels more comfortable playing them, so I obliged. All in all, down $100 in less than 30 min. Not good.

I go off to a 7 handed NL table with $250, and Karen goes up to bed. First hand I pick up is in the 4th hand I see. 2 black Aces. I raise it to $12 preflop, and actually get a re-raise from 2 seats down to $24. It passes back to me, and I don't even fuck around, moving one stack of nickles to the center for $100. He knows what I have and flips over 2 black 7's. I show as well.

Granted, this is not the best way I could've played this hand, but god forbid he hits a set and all undercards, I'm gonna lose a fortune.

Next rotation, I get QQ, and raise to $12 again. I get 4 callers this time. Flop comes Jc9h2c, and it's first to me. I bet $25 and get a raiser from the seat next to me up to $50. It passes back to me and I call, putting him on KJ. Now watch what a retard I develop into. The 4d comes on the turn, and I check. He bets $60, and with the best hand I JUST call. I should've gone all in as the pot was about $220 now. The Kc comes on the river, completing the flush and my imaginary 2 pair. We both check, and he shows KdJh. I lost about $130 in that hand, and could've won $220 right there on the turn, but I played it like an idiot, and quite frankly, deserved to lose.

Another hand, I flopped top two pair on a board of 467 with 67d in the BB, and lost to bottom set from the button. Another killer. I even got all my chips in with A9 on the flop for like $16 and hit top pair, but another guy flopped a straight. It was just one of those nights.

I get back to NY, and hit up Hall's 3/6 game on Friday night, and make $130 in a pretty short time. No game on Saturday, and I go back on Sunday for the NL at night. I make another $150 and I'm close to even for the week. Then Tuesday, after the tournament, I play a little 3/6 and see the biggest pot I've ever seen in that limit, the pot was $300+! Was I involved? Hell yeah!

I get 44 (a hand I would get a total of 5 times that night) and there's a preflop raise and I'm in the cutoff. The button is quite conservative and I figure he'll fold, thus giving me the button. I call the raise and Mike Hall in the BB 3 bets it. The original raiser caps it, and since there's 6 people in, I'm getting a good price to flop my set. The flop comes 4d6c7h. It gets bet by Hall, raised by the original raiser, call call, and I 3 bet it. Casey who is by far the tightest player at the table, cold calls the 3 bets and it gets capped around. A 3d comes off on the turn, and it's bet and 3 bet by the time it gets to me! Hmmmm, someone snuck in with A5 I'm guessing. I call, hoping to pair the board on the river, and the 2c comes off. I get checkraised into paying off 2 bets on the river and Maltese has A5 and Casey of all people got involved in the hand with J5d. He did turn a flush draw though. They chopped it up and got $150+ each. That kind of killed me and I never recovered, leaving down $100.

Eddie's on Wednesday night was a joke. I got there 20 min late, and never made it past the 2nd level. I played 7s9s to see a cheap flop and checked then folded. I raised with A9 on the button after everyone passed to me, and the BB went all in for 1700 more. No thanks. My last hand I called a raise with Ad9s. The flop came KdTd8d. The pot was 1200 and checked to me and I was last to act. I bet 800 and got one caller in the SB who is very conservative. The As came on the turn and he checked, I bet 1200 not leaving me much more, about 625 to be exact, making it look like I had a good hand but not going all in. He put me all in right away, and I called with the nut draw and top pair. He had QdJs for the nut straight. No diamond, and I was gone in the blink of an eye. At least my car was still warm.....

2005-03-15T20:00:00.000-05:00

After starting my new job in the city last night, I decided to take Karen down to Atlantic City this morning so she could get to her 2pm show. I hit up the NL tables of course, and went on the coldest streak of cards I've hit in a while. Actually, I've been cold decked for the past 10 days, and granted in the grand scheme of things, I have to accept it, it's just a part of the game. I only won 2 pots in 3 hours and those I completely bluffed at with K high both times on the flop after I got in fairly cheap in multiway pots.

After that, I was down about $50, and Karen got back from the show to sweat some action, and brought a friend who I haven't seen in about a year and a half. When they got there, I picked up some hands. I got 99 and raised and got one caller, the BB. Flop came 744. He check/called me 2x and then I checked on the river too, and he had 88! He had me nervous for a bit.

Same thing happened later with TT. I caught a flop 9 high and he check called me all the way down again, and I never saw his cards. By now I was up $96. I probably should have left but Karen said she was going to go to the room, come back and we'd get some dinner. I'm starting to believe in good luck and karma because as soon as she left, I got A10 in the BB and the pot was unraised with 5 players. The flop came T75. I bet $10, 1 caller. This guy was a crazy Asian guy who had a Scotty Nguyen-like attitude. He called and the board paired 5's. I bet $20 and he called again and did a little dance with his arms in his seats, pretty funny. Another 7 peeled off on the river, and I checked, and he said "no, no more checks, I bet $40." He then proceeded to say that we had the same hand and he's like "i have a 10" blah blah blah. I decided to call and he flipped over J7. Oh well, lost $70 in the hand. Overall, after a few more beats, I was down $25 and went to dinner. More info later as I go back for my next session.

2005-03-05T15:56:00.000-05:00

I got called in to play drums as a sub for a show last night in Smithtown. The show went well, and afterwards I went to Hall's for a little 3/6 action. It was 2 rounds of Hold em, and 1 round of Omaha high. After 20 min, I was up $105.

In Omaha, I had Ad6d8c5h in the BB. I checked in a 5 way pot and the flop came 8s8d5s. Having to check my cards as did everyone, I made sure I had top full house and the SB bet. I raised and everyone called. The Kh came on the turn, I bet again, and everyone called. I cried out "NO SPADE" on the river and the beautiful 6s came off the deck. The SB then bet out, and I thought about it for a minute, then realized I had an even better full house now and raised. Everyone folded and he called with As2s for the nut flush. While I would have liked if he got there on the turn, at least he got there and gave me 2BB on the end.

Same rotation, I picked up AKQT. I limped in from the cutoff and Pete raised on the button. 4 others called, as did I and we saw a flop of J96 rainbow. Gregg bet out in the SB and was raised by a MP player, Bill. I called the 2 bets and Pete did as well and Gregg. The turn was the Ks giving me the nuts right now. Gregg bet again, Bill raised, and I 3 bet it. Gregg capped it and Bill called the cap as did I. The 2h came on the river and Gregg bet again, and Bill raised, I 3 bet it and Gregg capped it. I expected a 3 way chop, but it was only 2 ways, as Gregg and I had the QT. Bill had flopped top set with JJ. It was a $220 that was chopped up, probably the biggest I've seen in a 3/6 game.

Well, I lost some pots here and there too. Bad preflop calls and chasing too much, so I got up and got a drink and came back to the table. All in all, I was up $40 when I left and I played for 3 hours for a profit of about 2.2BB/hr. I approve.

2005-03-04T14:21:00.000-05:00

Well, since the last posting some 2 weeks ago about, I've been playing quite a bit of poker. I've been to Eddie's twice, Hall's a bunch of times, and the SPT championship event. Where do I begin? I guess from the beginning.

Starting with Eddie's after my last post, I busted out early when I made a huge bluff for a huge pot and I got called by bottom set. Good trap on the other guy's part. The following week I went to see 2 shows in NYC. Saw Wicked at 2PM then saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at 8PM. Having seen Wicked before, I realized that I didn't really need to go see it again, although I love the show. DRS though was quite a surprise. Much funnier than I imagined it to be, and I was thoroughly entertained the entire time. Look for it to be nominated for some Tonys in June.

There have been some cash games at Hall's as well, mostly 3/6 limit. I had a couple of losing sessions in the game at about $10-$20 at a clip, and then an $11-$25 profit here and there was well. It's funny how people view the game and if they don't make $100 dollars when they only start with $60, the view it as a loss, or just poor. The times where I made $20 bux in 3 hours, I was slightly better than average when you think about it, I was thrilled, and considered it to be a successful day.

I seem to be on somewhat of a good roll in the month of February. I made a nice comeback to take 2nd place in the SPT overall rankings, finishing just 150 chips short of Tieds. I won the Saturday tournament, came in top 5 in the next game, and then won the Omaha 8/b tourney the following week. I showed up to deal the satellite only to gather information from who would win and how I could play against them the next night. Lehman ended up winning and my gameplan going into the Championship table was clear. Get involved in pots with Lehman and hopefully trap him as he was the most inexperienced player at the table. (Sorry Lehman, nothing personal, just strategy!) It turned out to be in my favor as I flopped the 2nd nut straight against him and trapped him for almost all his chips. Ditty finished him off the next hand with TT.

From there, I got real real lucky. I was dominated against Tieds in a hand when he called my all in with AQ and I held AT. (I believe I had AT, Tieds help me out) I ended up flopping my undercard and doubled through. I got it all in again with KQ and Ditty called with 77. Flopped a K to stay alive again. Eventually I tumbled in 3rd place when my AJ went up against Eddie's A5 and the board came 7755x. It was time for me to lose when I was in a dominant position, it was only fitting.

I then went to Hall's game and dropped around $100 at his 3/6 game. Poor poor play on my part, I should have never gone. I said that I probably wouldn't go back on Sunday for the tourament, but I showed up for the cash game at night. Not enough people decided to play a cash game, so I played a 10 person tournament, and won, beating my arch nemesis Gregg Maltese (another Gregg M).

Then I had the dreaded task of taking Karen down to Atlantic city which is like throwing Brer Rabbit in the Briar Patch. I played 1-2 NL from 11-4am on Sunday night and from 12:30-7 on Monday. I made $425 and look forward to playing again when I go down there. I bluffed a guy off a hand, but it cost me a lot to do it. The risk/reward was enticing.

I raised in the cutoff with 9Td to $15. There was a European guy who had sat down at my table and he was calling every bet cold to the turn and then usually folding. I figured I could get him in and just try to outplay him to see what happens. He called as did 1 other. With a pot of $48 the flop came J64 with 2 diamonds. The action was checked to me, and since I had a pretty tight image to people who were paying attention, I bet $35. The one player that I wanted to call, called, the other folded. The turn came a 8c, giving me an inside straight draw for 6 more outs. He checked again and with the pot at $118, I fired $60 and thankfully he folded. He asked the dealer to rabbit hunt the last card to see if he hit his draw. I said to go for it, and flipped over my cards to show my bluff. The guy was irate and played super aggressive on every hand I was in, but I showed him the nuts 3 times in a row and he paid me off every time. I flopped a straight one time when he had QQ and didn't raise preflop. Then I slowplayed my flopped set of 9's and took out his AA. All in all it was a great experience. I'll probably get my ass kicked the next time I play this game. Karma...

Then I've been back to Hall's and I won his tournament this past Tuesday for $130 payout, and then played a shorthanded $3/$6 game on Wednesday night, waiting for Karen to get home from AC. I played for about 100 min or so and won $130, or as I like to thank about it, 21.5 BB. Damn, I would've been happy being up $9 or $10 bux, but I'll take it! The game was perfect really, people raising me on the river with an underpair when I have top two, or even just top pair. He tried it on me 2x, and I just called, so every time he did it to me again, I would just 2 bet him and consider it a value bet in my mind, because he was so weak.

One hand of note: I was in the SB with ATh and it was raised by Maltese, and 3 bet by Frank. Normally I wouldn't play this hand here, but a) we were shorthanded, b) the players are weak. So I just call the 3 bet and so does Maltese and 2 others. The comes 653 with 2 hearts. Normally I don't bet out here, but the implied odds are that a)Frank will raise in the middle, thereby trapping 2 other people for 2 bets and b) if everyone just calls, I'm getting 5-1 on a draw that I'm going to get there 1 in 4 times. Sure enough, Frank does raise it up and everyone calls 2 bets, which is perfect. The Jh on the turn shows up and I think if Frank will bet this hand. I decide to not risk it and just bet. Frank raises it again! and it comes back to me and I 3 bet it and everyone calls. The 5c comes on the river to pair the board and I still bet and it's just call call call call. I show my nut flush and everyone folds, but Frank says he had 88. Wow what a pot. As my friend Phil says "you just need a pulse in these easy games and people will pay you off through the nose"

Ahhh, if all days could go as well as this. I'm going to hit up the cash game tonight and then tomorrow he's spreading a 1/2 NL game. I'm interested to see how the competition is for this game. Well, that's all for now. I'll post tomorrow during work. Seacrest, out!

2005-02-16T12:12:00.000-05:00

This will be a quick update for today. On Sunday, I went to Hall's. He had a $40 tournament with $20 rebuys, and an optional $20 add-on at the end of the 3rd level. I generally am not a fan of this for many reasons. 1) The loose style that people play are favorable to the better players, but it leads to flipping coins for $20 a pop, in the first hour or so. 2) By the end there are SO many chips in play that the final 3 or 4 take hours to complete because of the blinds. 3) I just think that once you're out in a tournament, you're out. Yes, it creates action and the house can take more of a cut, but I think the game is just plain different (read worse) because of the style of the game. Should you take more chances to build a stack so you don't have to addon at the end of the period? Otherwise you turn a $40 tourney into a $100 or $100+ tourney. I myself got knocked out once and got back in and then took the addon, for an $80 tournament. I thought to myself, this is ridiculous. I'm much more a fan of one buy in and for god's sake, a slow structure. Again, back to flipping coins for your entry fee. I could've done that in the parking lot with an actual coin.

But I digress...

So I had the loosest player I've ever played with to my left to start the tournament, and Dycka to my right. It always seems like we end up sitting next to each other. The rest of the table was fine. I lost an occasional pot here and there, nothing really to make a note of. Then in the 2nd level, the loose guy just keeps going all in. I assume that he knows he has to make a move before rebuys are over, but he's goin all in for like 11x the BB. I really want to get him and I find 88 in the BB and he goes all in UTG, everyone folds like usual, and I call. He flips over AK, great! now he has a hand...He flops a K and it's rebuy time. I made it to the final table after taking an add-on and have about 6Kin chips, below average by all means.

Now Dycka is to my left when we start the final table. Right off the get go, I get 10's in MP and go all in. It was for a good amount, about 10x the BB, so it was enough to hang around and play or go home. After much thinking, a smart player who I respect, Kevin, called me with AK and everyone else folded. Flop came K high. But the turn peeled off a 10, and I was right back in it with a nice double up. Dycka would later get involved in a similar spot with Kevin, who again had AK against Dycka's 44. Again Kevin flopped an A, but Dycka rivered a 4 to stay alive. He couldn't catch a break it seems in coin flips that night.

Blinds 300/600 with a 50 ante, I get JJ and re raise all in after Frank had made it 2500 to go. It folds around to the loose guy to my left at the first table. He's now down the table from me and can't decide what to do. If it was anyone else I'd be worried that he has QQ, cause he can't make a decision. But it's this guy so I put him A10 or some other hand that a guy like him can't get away from. He decides to call eventually, and Frank folds for another 10K. Frank folded 77, and the loose guy flips over 910D!!!! What a call! Well, the flop came 8K2. The turn was a 6, and now he needed 1 of the last 2 7's in the deck. Well, of course the river was a 7. I had him covered so I was able to stay around.

Then I played the biggest pussy in the game. I just waited for blinds to come around and eat other people up so I could get in the money. Eventually it worked and I ended up chopping 2nd and 3rd's prize money to take home $160. I'm sorry I don't have more hands for this time of the game, but nothing really happened with me, or really worth writing about. Another cash, and tonight I have Eddie's game that I won 2 weeks ago. Let's see if the ride continues....

2005-02-11T15:12:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note, after sticking up for Phil Hellmuth for the past couple of years, I'm done with him. Does he still play poker? I honestly haven't read a NEW article from him on cardplayer since Tobey Maguire won his tournament. This week's article is from his book and from Foxwoods 2003!!! The past few weeks of his posting has been articles or stuff from YEARS ago against TJ, and even that was a horribly written hand. Has he not played recently and can't dwell on recent events? His lack of work ethic is terrible. Shit, even I'm doing more posting than him, granted he has a lot more bracelets.

2005-02-11T14:07:00.000-05:00

He who makes the least mistakes...(or how to win a NL Hold 'Em tournament)

I apologize for stealing your format of title Ditty, but you stole it from Dr. Strangelove anyway.

Poker @ Ditty's last night...good times. 3 handed I had more than 1/2 the chips in play. Did I win? No. How did I lose all my chips? Well, like a good episode of Alias, let's flashback to the beginning and go over some key hands of how I amassed my chips before getting to the terrible end.

At the first table, blinds 25/50, Hall raised from MP to 175. Rich calls, and I find AQh in the BB and call as well. Flop comes Kh9h3s. I bet out 350 to take it right there and/or find out if Rich has AK. Hall just calls (a weak play imo) and Rich raises it up to 700. I decide to call because with Hall's money I've got some good odds here. Hall ended up folding. The turn is the 4h and I lead out with a weak 600 into a 2300 pot. Rich didn't bite though, and just called. I wouldn't have minded another heart on the river but the Kc came for a final board of Kh9h3s4hKc. With not much else to do I went all in with the hope that he didn't have a boat, and he had AK.

I had a side bet with Dycka that for every pot Hall and Maltese were in, if they were heads up by the turn, I would lay 2-1 that Maltese would win the pot. Unfortunatly, they only got into one pot and Hall won. I slid $2 under the table to Dycka.

Another pot, Dycka raised UTG while I was in the BB. Blinds were 50/75 and he went up to 275. I found AK in the BB and just called. I didn't want to be on the losing side of a race, out of position, and especially with the comfy stack I had. We took a flop of 10 rag rag. I checked and Dycka bet 300. I called with the hopes of pushing him off the hand on the turn. Another 10 came to pair the board, and it was decision time. Would he fold to a bet here? Would he believe that I check called top pair? I decided that this was the worst card for my previous action and decided to check again, bascially giving up on the hand. Dycka bet 300 again, a smallish bet, which I commented on, but folded. He flashed 2 rockets at me, and I felt better. That one's filed away in the mental filing cabinet.

Artem and I got involved in a hand soon after. He raised from LP and I got AJ in the BB. I wasn't re-raising alot in this game for some reason, prolly cause I didn't think I could get Artem to fold preflop. I'm not saying anything about his game, but last night he seemed to want to play alot of pots and I figured if I could get in cheaper and hit it hard, I could make more money. Anyway, the flop comes A34. I check hoping for a bet, and Artem fires out 300. I go all in for about 1275 more, and he calls instantly.....with 34o!! What a steal gone good! Well, I spiked a J on the turn, and then an A on the river.

Later on, I got pocket 10's in UTG +1 and raised it up to 4x the BB. Jack had limped in before me and called the bet. Flop came 8h9s3c. Jack checked, and I bet 800, about the size of the pot. Jack thought about it and I told him to roll the die and see what happens. He did roll and got a 20! I don't know much about it, but that's the best possible roll I believe. So he decided to call. Turn came the 7h. Even better for my hand, Jack checked again and I decided to go all in for another 2250, now that I picked up a redraw in case my hand went bad. Jack decided to call because the die had rolled a 20 previously and flipped over A6h! Now if I hit my set, I lose to a straight, and any heart beats me too. The 4s came on the river and I won a huge pot as Jack was 2nd in chips next to me at this point.

Now I sat well at about 7800 chips. Artem went on a little bit of a tear before we broke for the final table and he was sitting well also. Final table was a little tough, I enjoyed Tieds' sarcasm about the situation. I had CK and Ike to my left, Ike I've never played with. He took the place of DGlove with his methodical calls and deliberate actions. To my right, I had Artem and Bob with Tieds and Long in the middle.

No real craziness here. I ran well and got some big pots here and there. There was one hand where I may have had a winner, but I folded preflop. UTG CK raises to 925 with blinds 150/300. Long asks how much to re-raise and makes it 2K to go. I look down in the BB to find AJ. I would've played against CK, but the re-raise here makes me hate my hand. I force it into the muck. Flop comes KJ7. They both check the flop and and after a deuce hits the turn, CK checks and Long puts CK all in. CK mucks Q 9 and the more I think about it, it's very possible for Long to have QQ there.

Artem goes all in on the button and I find 88 in the SB and re-raise all in to push CK out. He folds and Artem tables A6o. No help for him and we are down another player. CK and Ike got involved in a hand as well where the action folded to them and CK went all in. Ike thought about it and decided to take a stand and call. CK has 23h and Ike has 103d. Flop comes 102x I believe. Turn is another 2. River? Case deuce. CK doubles up with 23h!!

Ike was down to about 4x the BB and I picked up ATd in the SB and planned to get him all in but Bob raises in front of me. Hmm I wanted this pot, so I call and not play back at him, but I put him on a weak ace. Flop comes JTx. With a sidepot of 400, I checked hoping that Bob wouldn't bet me out of a sidepot when a player elimination is one the line. He checked as well. I spiked an A on the river and thought about betting because I figured I'd get some action. But I did not, and I took the pot down with 2 pair, and eliminating Ike.

Eventually we are 3 handed with Long and Bob. We were really trading blinds back and forth with no real action. I got K9c on the button and decided to raise 1/2 of Long's 6K chips to see if he wanted in. I figured he's not going to call, he'll go all in or fold, and for some reason, I had a good feeling about the hand, call it intuition if you will. Long decides to go all in and Bob folds and I call. Long has 5h5s and it's race time. Flop comes Kh9hx. 2 more hearts come on the next 2 streets, and Long's flush beats my hand. 3 hands later, on the button again, I got A3o, and I went all in for 8K, a GROSS overbet on my part, but I was rattled for the first time in weeks and decided to push it in. Long didn't want to right away, but he did call with 77, and eliminated me when the flop came 232 and no more help.

About 5 hands later, Long won the whole thing. I wasn't watching the final hand because Ditty put in an awesome Ali G DVD with Borat in the Hamptons. I can't really complain except that I wish I had played the hand slower to get away from it at the end. But I hate taking stands now with 4x or 5x the BB. I wanna double up big or just stop. I think that was my problem before, I would just whittle away and not be afraid to gamble. As much skill as there is in this game, it's still gambling and you must treat it as such in certain situations. Another cash and more points to move me up the leaderboard as well. I'm very happy with the way I've been playing lately and that A3 is the real only big mistake that I've made in the last 3 weeks. Tonight, is a 2/4 game at Hall's. I'll prolly go to work on my limit game as the aquarium is fresh to be tapped.

2005-02-03T14:44:00.000-05:00

*Quick update*

I got a call from the electrician today and he was at my house to run another line down from my satellite so I can get my TIVO. I figure I'm +400 and change this week in cards alone, might as well splurge. I don't know how they can do it so cheap, but TIVO from DirecTV is only $99 for the box, and $5 a month for the service. The reason I needed another line is because it's a dual tuner box so not only can I tape one thing and watch another, I can tape 2 things that are on at the same time. Gotta love it!

2005-02-03T11:29:00.000-05:00

Report from Eddie's game on 2-2-05

I almost didn't go. Having my first class of grad school this semester and getting into my car at 7:30, I gave up all hope of getting to Eddie's by the 8PM start time. Somehow though, I got to his exit at 8:02 and decided to swing by and see if I could still get in. Luckily they were JUST about to start and I was able to get a seat. Buy in was $30, and there were 23 players on 3 tables. I pulled a table of almost unknowns to me, so I played the waiting game early to see who was capable of what. I actually got no hands for a while and lost 1/3 of my stack early on in a hand that I did have.

I saw a free flop in the BB with 94o. Flop came J96 rainbow and I bet 200 into a 300 pot. I got one raiser and no callers, I called with hopes of hitting big or folding. A 9 peeled off on the turn and I checked and the guy put me all in. I called and he had KJ and I had life once again. I really don't remember winning any more hands before we combined for the final table.

When we combined, 2 people had half of the 69,000 starting chips. I had 2800 and the chipleader sat directly to my right. The rest of the players had very low stacks too, so it was a constant all in battle between the short stacks. I ventured to guess that I could wait for other people to gamble crazily before I picked up a hand and maybe move up into the money. Final table was 10 handed and only 4 paid out. This would be an uphill climb.

I was dealt into the SB with binds of 300/600 and got 24o. Action before me and I folded. I picked up nothing for about 5 hands. 1 player got eliminated and in the SB again, a player in middle position limped in and the button chipleader, raised and said he'd put me all in. I hadn't looked yet and saw AA. I thought about it and the guy asked me, "what do you have, aces?" I told him no but it was good enough to gamble with. The limper also called here and we took a flop of QQK. The limper bet out 4K, and the chipleader after much thought folded. I asked him "AQ?" and he said "jacks". WOW! I was still alive. After more than tripling up with the antes and other blind, I was back in business.

Very next hand on the button it passes to me and I find AT. I'm up against 2 blinds who are very short stacked with 1500 and 1200 total. I go all in and just the SB calls with J9. Flop comes JK3. I shout for a Q. Turn is a 4. River is a Q! Another player down and more chips for me.

The chipleader then became relentless and I guess was pissed that he wasn't dominating the table anymore. So he started to run over everyone, and now that I wasn't in a position to gamble anymore, I let him and he picked off 2 more people. Now 5 handed, we're on the bubble. I find AK on the button. The chipleader raises 4K more from the 600. Now I have a decision. No doubt I have the best hand, but do I want to gamble with a 60/40 all in here? Or what if he does have a pair? Then I'm 50-50 and I don't really HAVE to gamble here. The blinds are coming around so fast, I'm pretty much guaranteed money here. I decide just to call, and the flop comes with garbage. He bets 3500 on the flop and I raise to 8000. He folds and I show him the AK to show that I had a hand, not necessarily on the flop but that you can't run over me everytime.

A few hands later I get AA again! C'mon really? It was ridiculous the cards that kept coming. Chipman raised it again, and I decided that he wouldn't call my all in so I re-raised him about 3x his raise. He called and we saw a flop of QQ9. He checked and I bet 10K. He folded and I showed it again. He was really getting upset at the cards I was catching, and frankly, I couldn't blame him.

5th place busts out, and now we're in the money. We trade back and forth for a few hands and on the button the following hand occured. Blinds 400/800 with a 100 ante. The chip leader raises out another 5000. I look down to see KK. I didn't want to see a small pot develop here, so I go all in for about 16K. The SB calls and BB folds and the chip leader says that he would call if the other guy didn't. SB shows AT. Flop comes ATJ. I shout for another Q to save me like last time, and on the river AGAIN, another damn Q comes out. I couldn't believe it.

We play 3 handed for a little while and I start to chip away and the old chipleader, as I've taken the lead now. One hand he raised to 4K and I called in position with 86d. Flop came 9T6. He checked and I bet 6K. He thought about it and asked how much was in the pot. Eddie said 8300 and he called. Now what could he have? What kind of draw that he wanted a price on? He hasn't done this the entire game, so I put him on QJ or something similar. A 3 peeled off on the turn and he checked again. I bet 8K this time, not leaving me with much, but I the pot was huge. He eventually folded and I didn't show it this time. He wanted to see a river card and an 8 came off and he groaned. Maybe he did have the draw I thought, the world may never know.

I eventually got AQ and just went all in after the player on my right had raised on the button and I was in the SB. The BB folded and he decided to take a stand with A6d. No help came for him and now we were heads up.

Next hand, I get AQ again and go all in and SB folds. I go all in 3 more hands in a row. No calls. Finally, the guy raises half of his stack on the button to 2800, and I have A4c. I go all in and he calls with K9o. No help for him and I take down the victory and a $265 1st place. I should play more often when I'm sick as I seem to be on somewhat of a roll lately. Being outchipped almost 10-1 when you get to the final table and winning is nothing short of miraculous/lucky as hell. I got AA 2x KK once and a plethora of big aces. This game's easy when you get the cards! And to think I almost didn't go.....

2005-02-02T15:08:00.000-05:00

The Poker Gods, They DO Smile

I went to Hall's place again last night, only on the condition that the same person who was there the previous time, would not be there. In a nutshell, the guy there was very abrasive and when I commented on his decision to tell people to just throw their money in the middle, he told me that "while you were swimmin, I was dealin'..." He then proceeded to call my all in of AK with an A on the board with A4 after checking to me. He hit a 4 on the river and proclaimed his hand to be great and this that and the other thing. Also their blind structure was a joke and I ended up paying $60 for 3 hands and leaving.

So....

I go back last night and he has a 16 person freezeout tournament. Some reason, we only started wtih 1500 in chips so I decided my strategy was to gamble early on and build up a stack. My first few hands were 92c, turned a flush, 64h missed, but I was showing some random hands that people didn't expect me to. Also, the game was tight as can be, and at this structure, if you waited for a hand, you'd be blinded to death. No one else picked up on this, so off we went.

About 10 min into the game, there was a raise before me to 200 at the 25/25 level. The whole game and before I was reading Supersystem 2 about Omaha 8/b to get ready for Thursday, and not really paying attention to the players. I look at my cards to see KK, and reraise to 450. The BB reraises to 700, orginal raiser calls, and I figure with that much in there already, we're gonna get it in on the flop, so let's do it now, and make it another 1900 to go. BB folds after a while and the original raiser calls and I tell him nice hand cause I know he has AA. I start to put my coat on when we see a 1092 flop. But a K on the turn more than doubles me up, and the coat goes off.

6 hands later, there's a raise to 250 and I get KK again! I reraise this time and the SB goes all in for 650 and the raiser calls. Flop comes 10 high and she goes all in, I call instantly and she has a set of 10's. I say nice hand again, and the SB flips over QQ. Turn comes a Q! Oh man...and the river? A King!!! We all had sets, unbelievable, and I eliminated 2 more players.

I ran well until the final table and lost some pots here and there. But people started getting knocked out left and right. Finally 5 handed, I had QQ and with blinds of 100/200, I raised to 900 into a player with alot of chips who ONLY calls, and usually with marginal hands, nothing great. He calls and we see a flop of AJQ. I think he might have an A so I go all in for 3200 and he calls after thinking about it for a while with KJ. The damn 10 comes off on the turn and I get my coat. But the river is another 10! I swear to god, I couldn't believe how lucky I was getting.

3 handed, I was shortstacked, and a player who has improved made a crucial mistake by going all in on a flush draw when Hall flopped 2 pair and basically gave me 2nd place. He didn't really have to gamble as I was running low, but he did it anyway. I went all in dark 1st hand heads up with 104s. Hall woke up with AK and it was over. +80 for the night, not bad. But seriously, the gods did smile upon me last night.

2005-01-31T01:50:00.000-05:00

WOP (Weekend of Poker) 2005

Well, I was sick on Friday, ruining my plans of going to the city for Karen's roomate's birthday party. They even got a Hummer Limo and everything. Saturday, Karen came out early on the train and we headed to Ditty's for a 12pm tournament, specially added for the SPT Season 2. Still not feeling very well, I pulled the usual "alternate" table. I've only started at the actual table once this whole season. Kudos to Tieds though for bringing his card table though, it was better than usual.

My opening table went something like this. Me, Lehman, Artem, Bob, Simpson, Moneymaker, Tieds, and Rich. I had to say I was pleased with my spot, and the table overall. Actually, whoever sat in my seat was going to get my cards, so I guess I just got lucky. Here's how the first 2 levels went.

I put alot of pressure on other people with good hands and didn't bluff once. I was hoping people would think I was at some points, but my hands were too good to bluff. For instance, I had built up some chips when the blinds were 25/50 and CK raised UTG to 200. I decided to take a flop with 33. Bob also called. I didn't care who was in the pot when the flop came QJ3 with 2 spades. CK bet out 300, and I raised to 700. Bob folded and CK called. Turn came another spade, and CK checked, and I wasn't sure what to do. CK is definitly capable of pulling a check raise bluff here, but I figured I had to bet something here to see if I could win it here, or if he really had a big hand. Now how much could I bet? He had about 2K left, so I bet 600. He called. The river brought a red 10 and he fired out 700 real quickly. I couldn't raise him without the best hand cause now a straight was out, and the flush was out there too. So I called and showed my set, and he mucked, but told me later he had AQ, which is the only thing he could've had if he was in the hand that long.

A few hands later I picked up KQ in middle position and called a raise from Bob with Rich also calling. Flop came AJx. We checked to Bob who bet 200 and Rich called. I called because it was not heads up and IF I hit a 10, I would get alot of action I'm sure. Also, I was using my big stack effectively here and I wanted to represent a strong hand. The turn came the perfect 10c and now Rich bet out 400 into me. Again, how much could I raise where he'll still call? Rich is a notoriously tight player so I had to be smart about this. I raised to 900 and Bob folded and Rich called, albeit reluctantly. The river came a Q so I felt like we might chop it up, but Rich checked and I bet 1K. He folded and Tieds said "you couldnt' have had KQ, how could you call the flop?" So, I advertised that hand.

Karen went out in the next few minutes. She hit her flush card on the river which also gave DGlove his full house. Tough times when those things happen. I applaud her efforts and she gets an A+ in my book just for showing up, only having played a few times prior.

Around now I had about 8K or so in chips, more than doubling up from our 3K start. I was UTG, blinds 25/50 still and Lehman opens HUGE for 500 after I fold. Everyone folds to him and he collects 75.

NEXT hand. I'm in BB and Lehman opens again for 400. Not having looked at my cards yet, I said that I can't play this hand for that much unless i have Aces. When it was my turn, as fate would have it, I had AA and raised it to 900. Lehman just called, leaving himself with 600, which I bet on the flop of I Don't Remember. Lehman called and was out and I added some more chips to my stack which was the biggest of the tournament at this point, hovering around 10K.

I limped into a 4 way unraised pot on button with 7c8c and got a flop of 776. Bob, who was in the BB, bet out 200 and I raised to 500, he called. A K came on the turn, and this time he checked, and I bet 600. He called again, and now I expected a huge bet on the river with a better hand than I had. The river brought a J and he checked. I should've bet here, this was my mistake, but I didnt' think he would call anything I bet so I announced trip 7's and he mucked. I wonder what he had.

One of the last hands before the final table, after Rich was taken from our table to even up the other one, Tieds was now directly to my right. Blinds were 75/150 I think, and he raised on the button to 450. I find 66 in the SB and decide that I likely have the best hand so I'll re raise, which I do to 1175. Tieds called and we saw a flop of K87 with 2 clubs. We both checked the flop and it was now that I put him on AJ or AQ, wasn't sure which one yet. A blank came on the turn and I bet 1600. After much deliberation he folded and I showed him that I did have a pair, we're friends and I didn't want him to think I was being a jerk with my big stack, and that I was actually playing back at him with the best hand. We broke for the final table and I had a commanding chip lead with about 15000 of the 51000 starting chips.

Going into the final table I wanted to avoid situations with marginal hands. In middle position and with blinds at 100/200, I raised to 650. DGlove, directly to my left, calls, and Jack after watching Celebrity Poker during the break, said that the TV told him that when he felt like he had to, to go all in. So he did just that for about 2400 or so. I called and DGlove folded. He showed A9, I showed AK. Flop came 10 high and Dennis said he folded pocket 10's. Whew. Turn A....good...river 9.....bad....So, I double Jack up on the first hand of the final table.

I stay kinda quiet for a little while and eventually get some hands here and there that are all won preflop. Then, the action limps around to me in the SB where I have A9s. Simpson on the button had just called as had 4 others. I raised to 650 again and it folded to Simpson, and after thinking he pushed all in. Based on what he had been doing earlier in the day I put myself on the best hand, and called very quickly. He had Q3o I believe. Flop came 345 of spades. YES I flopped the nuts. Turn comes a 7s. Hmmm...Simpson on a 1 outer to just chop the pot, yes we get the miracle 6s on the river to have a straight flush on the board. I've never seen that happen before.

Myra and I got into an interesting 2 hands in a row. First one she was in the BB and saw a free flop of 9 6 4. I had A6d and she bet and I called. She went all in on a turn of a blank and I thought about it, and for some reason called. She had 9 3 for top pair, and I got no help and doubling her up. The very next hand, I get 88 and bump it up to 700. She thinks about it and goes all in again! Ugh...now what to do...yeah yeah, fold sounds good. But I put her on AK for some reason and decided to "race" for my chips back that I had just given her. Well, she flipped over QQ and I was in a world of hurt. I got no help and just like that I had lost 12K of my chips in just a few hands by doubling people up, and Myra back to back!

It was at this point that my head got completely out of the tournament and I started to think that it wasn't meant for me to win this one. For about 20 min, I gave up all hope until Tieds got pushed around in a hand by Pete and went all in on his button for 2100. I had 3600 left and had Q10d in the BB. I felt like he was on a steal, and I needed chips too at this point, so I decided to gamble. He flipped over 5 7 and I hit a 10 on the flop to get some much needed chips back in my stack.

From here I was kind of unstoppable hitting hand after hand. I eliminated Simpson with AK when he had QJ, and even took out Pete with 108h when he had 2 undercards. Finally it was heads up with me and DGlove. With the table full of railbirds and the blinds at 400/800, the following hand came up.

I had 64o and was first to act on the flop. Flop came 10 6 3. I bet 2000 and Dennis called after a while. (Each move Dennis makes is very deliberate, and thus can take a long time to complete.) The turn hit a 7, and I had a big decision to make here. Now, 2 times before this, Dennis and I had gotten to the turn and I had checked and he went all in after I led out on the flop. I felt like he might do this to me again, and the only way I was going to win this pot was if I countered his bluff with a semi-bluff of my own. So I went all in on the turn before he could go, and just waited. He eventually folded.

On the button I raised to 3K. Dennis re-raised me another 4K. I thought about how to play this hand, and decided to go all in right there. I had Dennis covered so I knew I'd see another hand if this one didn't hold up. He called and said "YES!" when I flipped over A6 and I felt like I was dominated. But he had 22, so let's race!!! I ended up catching a 6 on the turn, and winning the tournament! My first win of SPT Season 2 and it was the biggest game of the year so far, putting me in 4th place if my calculations are right. After getting into the money on Thursday and a win on Saturday, it renewed my confidence in my playing, and I look forward to hopefully participating in the Championship table. I will post later about Hall's rebuy tourney and my lack of appreciation of it. Later. Thanks for reading.

2005-01-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

Long Time, No See

Well, it's been a month since the last posting, and a lot has happened. Went to see Hairspray in New York over the holidays in a fun gathering of family, then went out to the S T L to see Karen with high hopes of maybe meeting Nelly and/or Chingy. Alas, it was not meant to be and I ended up hanging out with Rockettes and was dubious of a really good time.

Another girl's boyfriend was there, Dave, and he liked to play cards too, so we decided on our down time (i.e. they were at their show) we would search St. Louis for their casinos. First up was Harrah's, and I have to say I was dissappointed. It was basically a smaller Foxwoods and the whole "casino inside a shopping mall" vibe was ever present. You walk in and there's 2 entrances, with a players club booth right in the middle. We tried to get in and were instructed to go to the booth, because every player needs a card for admission. While waiting on line we read the pamphlet about Missouri gaming commissions, and found that you can only buy in for $500 every 2 hours. Since everyone needs a card it just tracks how much you're in for and will not give you chips until the window is up. What I found interesting was that they were running a 5/10 NL game in the poker room and people had mountains of chips, clearly more than $500 so people must be bringing chips home with them.

As for the casino itself, I found it to be very small and a TON of slots with not many table games to speak of. The poker room was also very small and had maybe 12 tables. I guess I'm spoiled. Anyway, we only had a little bit of time to play and make it back (the casino was 9.3 miles away from our room, almost too good to be true) so we put our names on 3/6, yeah i'm a pussy, and waited to be called. It took a while and I met another guy on the rail who had told us about the Ameristar Casino that was much nicer that had Bad Beat Jackpots and High Hand Jackpots, they also had more tables. I put in a quick 45 minute session and lost $3.

The next day, the girls had 2 shows, so we decided to make it an all day affair at the Ameristar, which was 1.4 miles futhur than Harrah's. Now, I didn't think it would be nicer off the bat, because it sounded like a casino from the makers of a generic form of soda from Costco. But sure enough it was nicer, albeit just like the atmosphere of Foxwoods too, but overall, nicer. I played 3/6 there for about 6 hours and ended up making $145. *Memorable hand* This backwoods-ish guy with a trucker hat and stringy hair and possibly 8 teeth sat down and was your stereotypical raise every hand guy. He won a fair amount of pots as people at this limit do, but I called his preflop raise with 72o in the BB, and he as 2 to my right. Flop came T72 rainbow and I checked, the guy next to me checked and raiser fired $3. I called and the player to the left called. Turn came a J and I fired out $6, got raised, and 3 bet by the original raiser, I capped it and everyone called. River came a 4, I bet out $6 got raised, got called, I 3 bet it and they both called. I showed my 2 pair and the original raiser showed me KJs and the middle player had AJc. Nice $154 pot.

Flew home on the 1st and spent some days relaxing with Karen. Hall's season then had their freeroll, and they were nice enough to wait for me to come home before they had it. Top 10 people played and Top 3 paid out. I honestly don't remember any key hands except that Maltese almost got eliminated and the river card doubled him up and he went on to be chip leader about 4 hands later. I was severe short stacked (nothing new, and more on this later), and for some reason, 5 handed the 2 big stacks of Erod and someone else decided to get into it on a hand with Casey joining them. Casey took out both players, and somehow, I found my way into the money. I was eliminated soon after and took $50 for not much work really. Casey ended up winning the prize, with Maltese after him. Congrats to both.

There were a few weeks off from Eddie's game which just started last week again. He upped the buy-in to $30 and the chips from 2300 to 3000. He also just has one game a night now instead of 2. Last week, I finished on the bubble, and at Ditty's game I finished on the bubble again. Last night at Eddie's out of 20 i was the 6th person out. Here's how a key hand went down:

Blinds 25/50, I limped in with 78h. 4 others did too including Eddie, right to my left. BB raises it another 100, and everyone calls. With 600 in the pot the flop comes T96 with 2 clubs. What a flop! BB checks, middle position bets 100 and I raise to 650. Eddie smooth calls and everyone else folds. Turn comes a 4s and I bet 750 and Eddie calls. River comes the dreaded 2c and I check and Eddie bets 700 into a pot of 3400. It was a damn good value bet and a hell of a suck out when Eddie flipped over 57c. I felt terrible after this hand, and it seemed to be representative of the way cards have been going for me lately. I always have a good attitude going in, and then something happens and it's over.

Now, looking back, the turn bet was too weak by me, i bet a little less than 1/3 of the pot, and without knowing it, Eddie picked up 6 extra outs on the turn with an open ended straight draw. So, as much as I hate going all in during the first level, I guess I had to do it on the turn to shut out all the draws. This was my mistake and it cost me everything. I was able to double up with 6's when the BB called me with K 10. But after that I got anted to death and went all in with A10s and got 2 callers. Flop came 46Q and one guy bet 500, the other folded, he flipped over 35o, wow I was ahead! Turn came a 5...doh...river came a 7...doh doh! And again, another night of poor play. I went home and indulged in another terrible episode of Alias and impossible to get away from, yet addicting MTV reality shows, then cried myself to sleep*

* not really true

2004-12-23T11:38:00.000-05:00

Did I deserve better? (to steal a quote from Phil Hellmuth)

I had Eddie's freeroll last night, and all in all it was alot of fun with some good, albeit interesting, poker action. I'm looking forward to season 3.

Eddie took an idea of mine for the final table and he decided to have everyone have descending chip counts from 1st ranked to the 11th seat (yes we played 11 handed). I moved up from 7th to 4th in recent weeks, so I started with 32,000 in chips. 1st started with 50K, and 11th had 7500. I thought it put an interesting feel to the game, and with the blinds starting at 100/200, the top people got to play with deep stacks for the first time in a while. They held a satellite earlier in the night with all the money going towards the prize pool. Final pot = $1050. Top 5 pay out.

Somewhere in the first 4 hands, I picked up KK in middle position. There was a raise UTG by the satellite winner to 600, and a caller 2 seats over. I made it 2400 to go, and it folded to the raiser who called as well as the original caller. I like this raise alot because if the flop comes with no Ace, which is what I put the raiser on, he would have to call if he hit the flop because he has 5K left or so, and there's 7500 in the pot. Flop comes Q 10 7 rainbow. Action is check, and the middle player bets 2000 into me. I decide to raise to 4000 and the original raiser goes all in for 5100 which doesn't open the raising. We both call, and check down the turn and river, and I say "just kings". I never saw what Anthony, the middle player, had. The original raiser had AQ, and I took down the pot and eliminated a player early on.

In fact, the first 4 players gone were the 11th, 10th, 9th and 8th in a row. Anthony built up a huge chip lead (pushing 100K) early on and was seated 2 to my right. He put alot of pressure on me when he had the button or was in the cutoff. At the first break i had 55K in chips for 2nd place so far, and with blinds going up to 800/1600, some people were going to have to make moves, and I'd have to be careful where to gamble. If there was one crazy thing about the game, it was that most people were scared to play postflop, so they would go all in for like 20x the BB preflop, and usually have like A 10 or something, but get no callers. I was waiting for a hand that I could pounce on.

Tim, who finished first overall, and started with the most chips had a healthy stack and raised in middle position to 8K. I wake up with QQ in the small blind, and having about 32K left after taking a hit, I decide to go all in to make it look like a semi-weak hand like everyone else was showing. Now, Tim's a smart player and I could tell he thought I was up to no good, but he called the extra 2300 or so, and flipped over AJ. No Ace for him and I won a really nice pot. Tim was soon out after I crippled his stack. Down to 5 people now, we were all in the money, the next one out would get $50.

We played for well over an hour, and with the blinds at 1600/3200 and a 400 ante, I raised to 8000 UTG with 66. Anthony, who granted had my number all night, called in the SB, and we took a rainbow flop of 6 9 Q. He immediatly bet 10K into me, and finally the situation I had been dreaming of all night came about. There was 18K plus the 10K that he bet, and I had 32K left. Just for Tieds, I did my best acting job, and said that I didn't have enough to fold, and went all in. He thought about it for a while, but I guess he felt since he hit, he'd have to call if I was bluffing. He flipped over K 9 for middle pair, and actually hit a K on the river, but it didn't matter. I had taken a nice chunk from the chip leader who was now down to 83K and I had upwards of 72K or so.

I was waiting for one of the short stack to die, but she wouldn't, she would keep surviving her all-ins, then ante her chips to death, then survive again. Everyone seemed to be playing for the money, and being very timid. I felt like Negreanu in Paris last year, NO ONE would go broke, so I volunteered myself....

I'll be damned if I don't remember this hand for the rest of my life. I'm in the SB and pick up AA. One player there had been all-in for a ton of chips preflop many times. He raised under the gun to the minimum of 6400. I decided to just smooth call (we'll discuss this play later, and Ditty/Tieds/Will, feel free to leave comments on what you think I should have done). Flop comes As10h8c. I check and he goes all in!!! I call before he can push his chips, and he flips over Jd6d. Turn brings a Qc, and I joke with Eddie that if he flips over a 9 or a K, I'll punch him. The river brings the 9s, and I lose 38,000 chips due to a perfect runner runner. I had him covered but with blinds at 2k/4k with a 500 ante, I had to make a move soon. I picked up A 10 on the button and went all in and the guy who took my chips before called my with AJ! Oh well, it was not meant to be, and I finished in 5th for a winning of $50.

After the game, I kept thinking about that hand. Obviously, if I bet the flop I win, but I really wanted the big score there, and to also send a message to the other players that I can trap them easily too. I was an 80% favorite to win that hand preflop and an 85% favorite on the flop. I think I'll get my money in there the same way every time.

After my exit, I gave Eddie $5 that he's collecting from people for the purchase of a table for the next season. I look forward to it.

2004-12-22T13:24:00.000-05:00

Some ramblings, and a much needed break

I have decided to take a break from playing cards for a week or so. After tonight's freeroll at Eddie's, which I'm trying to get excited about, but lacking enthusiasm, I will not play until next week in St. Louis. Honestly, the thought just isn't that exciting anymore. This all stems from a beating I took at the 5/10 game the other night. I was pissed about losing my buy in, and I've just been in a funk ever since. Also, I haven't been feeling well lately, just very run down, but I know why. A good break from the game will hopefully invigorate me, and I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing 5 days in St. Louis. Oops, then I have Hall's freeroll the Tuesday after that.

So anyway, shopping in the mall I came across the conclusion that FYE and Saturday Matinee are in fact the same goddamn store. FYE focuses more on music, but carries movies, while the latter just carries movies. The prices there are absurdly expensive compared to Best Buy and even Amazon sometimes, but it apprears that people don't know any better and are price fixed into spending more money, regardless of which in-mall store they choose. I guess they figure, kids are going to hang out in malls anyway, so they'll pay whatever prices we tell them too. You don't see kids congregating at Best Buy to shoot the shit.

Well, for the 6 people that actually read this, have a happy holiday and the best of luck to everyone in the new year. I will post after Eddie's game tonight, but after that I probably won't have anything until '05. Rock, rock on!

2004-12-18T17:45:00.000-05:00

Calling me down with 10 high, and destroyed by quads.

Phil invited me to a local 5/10 limit game near his house in Lindenhurst, so having no SPT this week at Ditty's I took him up on his offer. He assured me the game was easy, but no way did I expect what happended. We arrived and I sat down in the 2 seat, and they have a nice rule where as long as you come in behind the button, you don't have to post. I got garbage for a while and never even limped but I studied the players for a while to see who plays too many hands, who keeps winning, and more importantly, what they're showing down.

I sat patiently, and my first big pot was when I had QQ, and made it $10 to go. 5 callers and the board had all undercards by the river, and I won a $180 or so pot. The weird thing is that only one player called my river bet, and I shit you not, he had 10 high.....no pair.....just 10 high...The dealer told me I won a kill pot and now I had to throw $10 bux in forced, and it was essentially a $10/$20 game. Phil raised UTG to 20 and I folded my J 6, but oh boy, I could've spent that one bet when the flop came J 6 6. Phil ended up spiking a Q on the river and he took it down with AQ but still, I question whether or not I made the right play in such a loose game for 1 bet. Anyway....

I had doubled up my $200 buy in to $430 or so and I AA in middle position. Of course, there was a raise before me so I 3 bet it making $15 to go. 4 callers see the flop of 6 7 8 with 2 spades. Locke, a tight player (but I didn't know that at the time!!!!) in 1st position bets out, and I raise. 3 callers and Locke see a turn of a Kh. Locke checks, I bet 2 callers. Last card comes a 6d, Locke bets, I raise, and he pops me again! I have to call, and he flips over 66 for quads. What a friggin hand and I had my blinders on the whole time...didn't even pay attention to what was going on. I learned not to deal with him anymore and focus on the other players.

I turned trip Q's another hand with QK and got sucked out when an 8 hit the river and I had to pay off 2 bets to a guy with Q8. At one point I was down to $60, but I fought back to $160 and decided to cut my losses. Phil also bought Super System 2 off some guy there for $100, but he didn't care cause it wasn't his money from being up $500. Phil is a very good limit player, and I respect his game alot. We've talked about hands many times as we feel that we complement each other's game well, as he thinks I'm a better no limit player. A fun game with profitable players, including the bookie in the 4 seat who bought in for $100 10 times, and had no profit. The game is on Mondays and Thursdays, and since I have SPT on Thursdays, I think I know where I'll be on some mondays. Till next time!

2004-12-17T10:55:00.000-05:00

Poker--->Free Pizza--->Poker

Eddie's game on Wednesday night started with 27 players, and everyone was vying up for the freeroll which takes place next week for over $1k. Players were fighting for position to crack the top 10 who have the chance at the freeroll. Already placed 5th, I didn't think I had much to worry about. Most other players higher ranked than me busted early for some reason, and I picked up a good stack in the early beginnings, up to around 5K from our 2300 chip start. My table was super tight, so I stole as often as I could. There was a real quiet guy to my right who raised in the cutoff +1 and I called with 6h9h, everyone else folded. The flop came 8h7d2s. He bet out half the pot, I raised it to double the bet and he called. Turn came a Jh. He bet into me this time, I thought, and had seen him check raise the nuts before so I figured he didn't have it now. I called. River was a 5c. He bet a nice chunk of his stack, about 1500, and I had a decision to make. Do I raise with my made hand? I looked at him and said, "I can't raise you, I only have the 2nd nuts", and called. He flipped over 4c8c for a busted straight draw and a busted 2 pair draw (like that Tieds?). After than hand, my table got broken up and I went downstairs to a new table. I was 2nd or 3rd in chips at this table, but I picked up 0 hands and got anted to death. 2 action players love a raise before every flop, so seeing some cheap hands is not an option here. I picked up KcQc in the BB. I had enough of these raises and needed to take control of the game back. I got one caller, and the flop came As9c4c. I pushed it all in on a semi-bluff, and got called by A10, which held up. This happened to be my last hand and I finished somewhere on the bubble of not making the final table, somehwere around 11th or 10th.

Whenever I get knocked out before 11pm, I take the 10 minute drive to Phil's pizzeria to pick up some free food before the 2nd game. We talk about stuff and I eat as much as I can before they close. When I got there, they were playing some kind of baseball game in the back with some large spatulas. Phil, his friend Danny, and I went back for the 2nd game.

13 people in this one and I ran really really well all the way. The same guy with the 4c8c and I got tangled again. I called his raise in position with Jc9s. Flop came 10 7 6 which gave me a straight draw and he bet and I called, putting him on overs and making a move on the turn if I thought he missed again. Turn was a 4 which he bet again, and i raised him this time, and I could tell he reluctanly called. He checked the river when a 4 paired the board. I bet 1000, my only way to win the hand, and he mucked KdJd face up in disgust and said, "you have me" to which I showed him the bluff, and stole a line from E-dog, "you folded, but you should have called." I like to advertise in this game as people will later look you up for big pots when you have a hand.

Well, onto the VERY next hand. I raise in middle position with KK. 4c8c calls in the SB. Flop comes 10 4 2 rainbow. 4c8c goes all in! I quickly call and he flips over Ac4s. No improvements and I'm glad that I showed him the previous hand and put him on tilt. We then combine to one table and in the 3rd hand, Tommy and I get into a big big hand.

First off, let me tell you a little about Tommy. He just seems to have a bad attitude about everything. He's really irritable and the smallest things piss him off, plus he thinks he's Jesus of the felt. Oh, and he thinks I'm gay. That or he likes to call me "fag" as a friend. I don't know, I could be reading it wrong. Well, this sounds like bragging, but I've had Tommy's number for about a year now, and he could never really beat me at Phil's house. Until last week, he beat me 2x in a tournament in one week, and I've never seen him happier. So he's seated directly to the left of me and the following hand comes up.

75/150, I have the button and it folds to me, and I raise to 475 with A6 offsuit. Tommy looks and quickly calls in the SB and the BB folds. Flop comes J 6 6. Tommy bets 500, and I think how I can possibly get more out of him. I figure calling is best here, maybe he'll hit 2 pair on the next card. Turn comes a 4, and he bets out 1000. I have 5200 left and wonder if he'll call it all. I make a minimum raise to 2000 and he quickly goes all in, which I call. He flips over QJ and has an expression like "I gotcha", but I show him my hand and he's disgusted. I double up leaving him with 1K to my 12000 or so.

This sounds terrible, but sometimes I play personal poker against him because I know he dislikes me so much. I honestly didnt' play another hand for 2 levels because i didnt' want to risk my tournament, and take the chance, let other people gamble. Eventually I took Eddie out in 3rd when I decided to coin flip him with my deuce deuce against his AdJd, and won. I then went heads up and the girl who I was playing and I had a 1K chip lead. We should have chopped, but she had done the "I'm so tired right now, I just want to go to sleep" routine for 90 minutes that I figured I could out play her. When she raised it to 3K with blinds of 500/1000, I found A5 and decided I had the best hand. I moved all in for 17K. She called with A7.....wow how wrong you were Gregg. Board came AKK, I prayed for the board to pair. It didn't and I was left with 1K in chips. I went all in blind the next hand and doubled up when I flipped over QQ! I went all in again with K high, she called with 10 high to try and end it, flopped a 10, and I turned a K to double up again! Next hand I had KJ and went all in again, and she had A 7 and called again, and this time, Greggers got knocked out and came in 2nd for $80 and a guaranteed spot in the $1K+ freeroll next week. I need to get my game on for this one, as this would be good Xmas spending money. Right Karen???

Next up when I get the chance, my 5/10 game last night. Later

2004-12-17T10:19:00.000-05:00

Lots to write about

So, I haven't posted in a week, and there's been 3 sessions to talk about. First off, Hall's game on Tuesday.

Tuesday being a very special night and all, my birthday, since Karen isn't around, what better way than to play cards all night? So, I go to the first tournament of the night, and this is the last one to accumulate points for the freeroll which will take place in a couple weeks. I get cold decked the whole time, and miss all of my flops with good starting hands. I finally get all my chips in with AK and get called by AK and 88. An 8 on the turn sends the birthday boy home to watch "The Passion of the Jew" and other religion based South Park episodes. I get a call during the last episode from Phil to let me know there's a 10/20 game in Lindenhurst. I say it's too much for me, and I'll see him tomorrow at Eddie's. Back to Hall's I go for a 2nd shot at the tournament.

I run pretty smoothly and finish up chopping heads up against Big Daddy again. Someone gets the idea that it's time for a cash game, and it being 2AM, I'm not going home, so I oblige. 5 handed, everyone buys in for like 10 bux (I buy in for $16 to get rid of my singles) and we play .25/.50 NL. I call a preflop raise in the small blind with AA and the flop comes K high. I check call, then check raise the turn, which sets him all in. Raiser has AK, and I take the pot. Eventually players were buying chips from me, and I soon had $60 underneath my $35 or so in chips.

UTG I raise with 88. (Typical pre-flop raises were to around 1.25, 1.50) 3 callers and the flop comes 8s6s3d. I bet 3.00 and get raised to 6 by Maltese. Honestly, this is the situation I have been waiting for all night. Getting raised with top set and nut hand right now is a dream come true. Now, in his defense I did get caught playing with garbage a few times that night, but that's why this play worked so well. So, it's $3 back to me, and I reraise, and take a $10 bill out from under my stack and make it $13. Perhaps this was a poor raise as he doesn't usually push a draw so hard. I found out later that 2 people in the hand had made 2 pair on that flop. Wow, if the board had paired, it would only have been a better birthday.

One other hand. I got 3d6d the BB and the flop came Kd4s5h. I was into betting my draws in the cash game as it was very profitable. Pushing my pot equity edge right ditty? Turn brought the 10d giving me 9 extra outs and Maltese bet strongly, but way not enough for me to fold. 2h on the river for another nice pot. My $16 buy in found it's way up to a $115 cash out. Combined with the 2nd tournmaent chop it put me ahead $115 for the night. Only at Hall's.

2004-12-10T13:40:00.000-05:00

Why you shouldn't call raises with KQ

Eddie's Wednesday night game, and I'm feeling confident with how I've been playing there the past few weeks. Lots of final tables, and I feel like I know everyones tendencies there, well, almost everyone. More on that later. *side note-I had a weird feeling going into the game that I didn't want to make an embarrassing play and lose on the first hand or something. I want to get into that freeroll at the end and ranked 7th out of 65 or so, I wanted to advance my spot*

We started with a whopping 33 players on 4 tables. I feel comfortable with the large fields at the game because I've won the previous biggest turnout, 32 players. One table that we usually use downstairs is having the floor redone, so that left with us 3 indoor tables, and yup, one table of people who played outside in the cold. There was only one person at my (inside) table who I had never met or played with before, and boy did we tangle from the get-go.

I'm high-carded the button, and find 9-9. At 25-50 UTG (new guy)limps, middle player limps, I raise to 200. Both blinds and UTG call. I verbally declare to the guy to the right of me that "I hope I hit my set." Wish granted! with a flop of K 9 2, but the thought of my "embarassing finish" loomed in my head. The action is checked to the UTG and he bets out 300. I know now he has top pair, but how much more will he call? Action folds to me, and I raise to 700. He just calls and now as long as a K doesn't come he's drawing dead. Turn comes a 4 with no draws. He checks and I go all in for my last 1400. Looking back, this was a huge bet, but the pot was huge too, around 2000. He asked me how much more it was, and I reminded him that this was the first hand, so our chips were equal. I was hoping he would think I was bluffing and would call. He did, and turned over AK. A J completed the board, and I doubled up and elimnated a player. Play is fairly loose in this game, as we regularly clear half the field out within the first hour. As long as you can survive that hump with some chips, I've found you can have great success.

A player was eliminated in the 2nd hand as well, and the chips went to a player who is looooose aggressive and will play any 2 cards if he has chips, and somehow hit 2 pair all the time. He was directly to my left, so I didn't like this too much. I was able to move my stack up to 6K without showing down a hand for the first 30 min or so. Blinds 50-100 I'm dealt 88 in the SB. Action goes around with 3 limpers and the button calls. I raise to 375 and just the button calls. I know he only called because of the position, I don't know, something about his reluctance and frustation to just see a flop. Flop came Q 9 6 with 2 clubs. I made about a half pot size bet and he calls. Turn comes another 9, and I check, and he fingers his chips, thinks about betting and checks. Now I'm feel like he has trip 9's, but wants to trap me. Thank god he checked, because the river came with the 8 of clubs. Ta DA! I think about it for a second then push all in, which is more than him. He calls with K 9 and no clubs! Mind boggling...but now I have a huge advantage on the table with about 9K.

A few hands later, I'm dealt 26H in the small blind. Action comes around and a fairly straightfoward player who likes to bluff in the button calls, blinds check and we see a cheap flop. Flop comes A 3 4 with 1heart. Checks around and the turn comes a 9 of hearts. I bet out 200 and the button calls, with what I feel is Ace rag. River is a 5, and I check it to him, and he bets out 600. I feel that maybe he'll call the rest of his chips, so I push it in with the 2nd nuts. He calls with what I think was A 4 for 2 pair. Another trap attempt gone wrong at my benefit.

I run well till we make a final table. I try to look at the other table next to us and see who's sitting well and who I'll need to look out for. When we get to the final table, I have about 20K for 1/3 of the chips in play. I start off in the cutoff, don't play the first 4 hands, and a player is eliminated in EVERY hand. First hand Anthony, who came to the final table with 2200 or so triples up when his KK meets AK and A9. I tell him that I folded 99 which is true, and now small stack is right in the middle of it. He then elimnated another player and get more chips. Pretty soon, without even playing a hand, we're 6 handed and I have lost the chip lead.

Blinds 300-600 with a 50 ante. Middle position I get KQ (see the title!!) of clubs and there is a raise from a tight normal player to my right. He only ever raises the minimum, one time he raised more, and had AA. So I hope I have 2 live cards, and call the 1200. Sof, who I've played with once, but didn't know his tendencies, bumps it to 2400, adn the action folds around to the raiser. We both call, even though I HATE my hand right now, but I figure, if I miss, I can get out, and if I hit, I'll have a monster. To tell you the truth, the flop of Q high with no clubs was not my first choice, but I'll take it. Raiser bets out 1K, I call, and Sof pushes all in for another 1700 more. Raiser quickly calls, and now I hate my hand even more. STUPIDLY, someone talk some sense into me, I call. Turn comes a blank and he bets again which I call. On the river the raiser goes all, so now I think he might have a worse Q to shut me off the hand. It races through my head also that we're tied and he wants the side pot. I decide that I'll call, and yup, we were tied. Then Sof flips over AQ and I know I made a 5000 chip mistake. Oh well, last time I'll make that mistake against Sof.

Few hands later I call Danny's all in with QQ from the BB. He says "you got me, I wanted the blinds" and flips over J7 of hearts. But the board read K 8 6....turn 9....river 10...Lost another 5K right there. I was able to get Randy out when I called his all in steal of K 3 with A Q. Flop came 6 3 9. And I asked him how much he had left, and the turn came an A to take the pot! My JJ got busted at the end by K rag and I ended up finishing in 4th place for $75. Just as important, everyone else left in the game was lower than me on the stat sheet.

The 2nd game I went card dead forever and I made it somehow to the final table with 775 and the blinds at 100-200. I ended up doubling through a few times and finished 4th again, but with a field of 19, only top 3 paid out.

Ditty's game last night was Pot Limit Omaha, admittedly NOT my best game. I was 2nd out of the tournament in an 11 person game, very disappointing, but I came in 2nd in a NL hold'em game to Ditty at the end of the night when my 44, got CRUSHED by Ditty's AQ when 4 clubs hit the board and his Q gave him the flush. I broke even last night, buy my spirit was broken. (Like that one?)

Wed-Thurs Poker Time 10 hours. +$35 Sleep: not enough

2004-12-09T11:02:00.001-05:00

American Idiot for Best Album

I'm happy to see Green Day get some Grammy nominations. Their new record reminds me of why I like listening to music, and I haven't listened to an album so much since The Marshall Mathers LP and Rift. I hope they win their fair share of awards and beat out Kanye West who in my opinion is overhyped.

In TV news, Lost just keeps getting better and better. Besides 24 and Alias, this is one of my favorite shows, as it just keeps you wanting more each week, giving you more and more pieces of the puzzle. But it IS JJ Abrahms after all, so we'll learn nothing of substance for at leat 10 years.

Post upcoming for Wednesday night game.

2004-12-09T11:02:00.000-05:00

Put your hands in the air, if you think you're a playa....Poppa

Long time, no see, I know. I finally got motivated to start this up again after having some good sessions lately, and reading Daniel Negraneau's blog over at www.fullcontactpoker.com. It would be a shame for him to lose the POY this close to the end. But what a story it would be if Juanda came back. Judging from Daniel's posts, he seems to have lost interest in the big picture, which could be his undoing.

Anyway...

Tuesday night game at Hall's, which is funny cause it's not even his house, but he runs the game. The game had 20 players and I was at a pretty tough starting table with loose aggressive players. Dycka had a better table and would've traded in a hearbeat. For some reason I always have Greg Maltese to my left, and he always always always calls me down with bottom pair if I'm making a move, and it's usually good. I made a vow to not let this happen at this particular game. I was sick of playing scared against certain people. I didn't have to worry long as he busted out of the tournament while we were still at 3 tables. Erod wanted to play Worlds of Warcraft and didn't last long either. I went a little card dead for about 30 min, and was blinded away, and didn't even make the final table.

And then the fun began.

Some of the elminated players decided to have a NL cash game with .25/.50 blinds. High stakes, I know, but getting people to buy in for 10-15 bux at this game is like pulling teeth. We started 5 handed, and I only had 8 dollars to play with. I lost it fairly quickly, and borrowed 10 from Hall.

After winning some pots, I found KK in the BB. The raise was usually to about 1.50 or so pre-flop, so with 3 limpers, I raised it up to 2, middle position and the button called. The flop came 10 high, and i put about 4 bux in my hand, and decided to make it look like a bluff, so I checked with the other hand. I got someone to bite with a 2.50 bet or so, and Hall called, so he could have anything. I popped it to 6.50, not leaving me with much but I knew I was getting it all in anyway. Big Daddy (Eric) called and Hall folded, and a blank hit the turn so I went all in for 6 more. Long story short, I won this hand and couldn't really miss a pot. Players would sit down and play for about 10 minutes and I would get their chips.

One hand I should not have even won. 4 players in an unraised pot. After action on the flop and turn, I miss my straight on the river, and Ralph bets out in 1st position. Only other person besides me mucks, and Ralph doesn't know I'm in the hand and says something about how he had a straight, and mucks face down. I announce that I'm still in the hand, but we can't discern his cards from all the ones in the muck. The fair decision is that I win the pot if the cards hit the muck. I guess action out of turn is still action.

5 handed, I got QQ and Maltese was SB, I was BB. Finally on my right. He raises, I smooth call, hoping for all undercards on the flop. Flop comes J high, and bets, I raise, and he thinks for a second and pushes all in. I call quickly, and he has QJ. He had about 15 or so, but didn't realize I had over 25. He muttered something about not knowing I had that much when he bet.

Eventually it was heads up with Hall and I, but we decided to finish it after we played our 2nd tournament of the night.

12 person tourney, and the cards kept falling for me. No notable hands that I really remember well, but I ended up chopping up 1st and 2nd with Big Daddy. Then it was back to the cash game with Hall to finish up business. At this point Hall was in for about $35 , and I had about $40 in front of me, and even gave him back his 10. I had him by 2-1 here. After a few hands, Hall succesfully swayed people to play in the game. But eventually it was he and I heads up again, and I had $85. He threw me a $20 when he busted out, and I gave him chips and off we went again.

I lost some of my chips and almost cashed out at $50 when the following hand came up. I'm dealt KJo and I have the button. I raise to 2, and Hall just calls. I decide for some reason that I'm making a move on this hand regardless of how I hit it. Flop comes 2 9 3 with the 3 being a diamond. (This is important for later) Hall bets $4 very quickly, and I think and raise to $8, he re-raises to $12, and now I'm in a pickle. He hasn't been this agressive all day, and with Hall he's usually very aggressive when he protects his crappy hands, or when he has a monster. So now I think A9 or A 3. or 44?

I keep thinking...

I say what do you have? A 3? and his brow lifted with a maybe??? and a very honest face told me that yes he did have A3. I call knowing I can outplay his bottom pair. Qd comes on the turn and he fires out $5 immediatly, I call. Last card was the 7d and he checks so I think about it and go all in for $22 roughly on a bluff. I know he didn't have the flush cause the 3d was on the board. He thinks for a long time, and shows me the As, then flips it back over, and says "i fold". I show him the bluff because I know in about 10 minutes I can get the rest of the chips if I tilt him enough.

circa 10 min later, I get KJ again and this time Hall raises to 4, and I call. Flop comes Q 7 4. Hall fires out $4 again, and I just call. A J comes on the turn, and he bets out $5, I raise to $10, and he goes all. "Just Jacks" I say, and he curses while flipping over 99. No help on the river and I ended up taking every dollar in the pot. I look forward to the action next week. Post for Wednesay night's game at Eddie's soon to follow.

Playing time: 8 hours. +$140 Sleep: 4.5 hours

I need a haircut...

2004-05-09T12:42:00.000-04:00

Here the Chort, have a trohpy....

Hey all, I've been meaning to update this so here goes:

Real busy these past few weeks, not much time for online poker, but the bankroll keeps going into positive digits, which is always good.

Live games I've played a few of, and as of late, things seem to be turning around for me. This past week alone, I made $152 from two tournaments that I spent $30 to play total.

I've been real happy with my play this past week. Past 3 weeks I was playing awful and didn't know what the hole was to my game. I think I've discovered what it is.....although I can't divulge that information on my site.

Wednesday night was the usual game at Casa de Guillame and it was a rebuypaloozafest. 20 entries, 21 rebuys, total prize pool of $410. Prolly not alot to some other people out there, but for our game, that's alot of money. I rebought right away (Ditty and I were the only two to use this strategy) so we started with 8K in chips. Things went well, right from the getgo, and I never had to worry about position at all.

A couple of frightening moments when some calling stations got ENORMOUS chip leads, but they gave them back very quickly to everyone, so all was well in the world. I came in 2nd to Artem that night, heads up I had 58K in chips, and he had over 120K. First hand heads up we both had the same 2 pair....but he had a higher kicker, so it was over pretty quickly at the end.

The next night there was an impromptu game at Hall's store. Again, things seemed to go my way, and I played my cards almost perfectly. I made a semi-bluff bet on the turn in 1st position against 3 people who I knew would call anything I bet. Then on the river they missed their flush I could tell, so I bet out again with A High. Basically the first one in that pot wins it. I ended up tying for 1st in that game (12 people) and we chopped the pot.

Overall, I'm happier about the way I've been playing lately. I went through the coldest spell I've ever gone through, so it's great to be making final tables and being in the money.

Last night was Will's going away party. Much drinking, fun and carousing was involved and a good time was seemed to be had by all. From people throwing up in the porch, and then mysteriously disappearing, to Ditty's random comments about only playing 15/30 Limit ring games, and Donnie bouncing around in his sleeping bag, it was honestly a great night.

In all seriousness, I'm going to miss my friend a great deal. While I wish him the best of success, it will be weird to not have one of my oldest friends right around the corner anymore. I love ya buddy, all the best.

2004-04-11T17:47:00.000-04:00

So I spent the better part of 13 hours at Foxwoods yesterday. Shockingly, the tables weren't nearly as crowded as I expected them to be. Still packed, yes, but no 4 hour wait for a table.

I put my name on a 2/4 list to start. When I sat down, I got some ribbing for not posting right away, instead I opted to wait for my BB. They were like "c'mon man, it's 2 friggin dollars...besides, they call this 'no fold 'em hold 'em." So my first hand as the BB is QQ, and I raise a limped pot. I get 3 or 4 callers, I forget. Flop comes 10 2 3 rainbow. I'm first, so I bet out, and I get 2 callers. Turn is a blank, I fire out 4, 2 callers. River is a 4, I bet, seat 1 raises, I call, he has a straight. Stayed in on a gutbuster the whole time. Hey, that's the name of the game right, no fold em? Anyway, I took a little bit of a pounding at this table, so this guy Jared I met, and I get transfers to a 4/8 table.

Having never played anything else but 2/4, my instincts told me that this game would be better i.e. tighter. Hmmm, kinda right, but still a pretty loose game. I don't know why, but I was intimidated at first of playing higher stakes. I got over it.

My table had your usual charachters. The college kid with sunglasses, the foreign guy (usually eastern european), the middle aged guy with a big stack of chips, but it's because he bought in for that amount, not won them, and the quiet guy who never says a word and just takes your money.

Well, once I sat down, the cards got so cold, you'd get frostbite. I couldn't hit a card on the board, even my mucked hands which were about 93%. I counted a few hands in when I realized it, and i got up to 43 hands without touching a board card, till I hit trip 3's, which I had folded. The next hand I hit 2 pair which boated on the river, but alas again, I had folded preflop. So, I said that whatever 2 cards I get next, I'm going to play. I got 7 9 of hearts. I hit my straight on the turn, and raked in a 50 dollar or so pot. I went on a bit of a rush here for about 3 hands, then things got cold again.

It was then that I heard them announcing an Omaha 8/b game that changed to Hi Lo Stud every 1/2 hour. Jared and I signed up for it and switched tables. Quickly, the game was good, Jared got 3/4 of a pot one time when a guy was quartered on the low. I scooped a pot with the wheel one time. I had pocket Aces in the Stud portion and i had another pair showing, and they got cracked by a straight. Only time I saw AA all day.

After having enough of this I went back to a 4/8 table and sat down. Different table and right to the right of me was this Asian girl who had never played in a casino before. Some guy was explaining the betting structures to her cause she had played home games before, but not like this. Well, she was your basic, I bet really strongly, and raise really strongly when I have the best hand, but people didn't realize this, and her 100 dollar buy in tripled in 4 hands. She had 4 pocket pairs that tripped up on the flop, J's, 7's, and 4's. Then she had pocket 9's, and she quadded on the flop, and people had straights and flushes and everything you could possibly want in that situation. I was so jealous of all those pots she raked in. 2 kids at the table, I really respected. Tight, aggressive players who only really played when they had premium starting hands, and their chip stacks showed it. I too, was up around 200 bux when the following hand occured:

I had J 8 o in the BB, and no raises. Flop comes J 8 2. I bet out, there's a raise, a call, and I call. Turn comes a 4, I bet again, another raise (now to 16) another call, and I call. River comes a 10, I bet, call, now the 3rd guy raises! I call and flips over 9 Q offsuit, another gutbuster straight draw that he paid almost 30 bux for a 4 outer. The original raiser had AJ, which is what I had figured on. What really annoyed me is that my stack is now depleted a bunch. I spent about 60 bux or so on that hand, but "that's poker".

Well, that annoyed me, so let me continue on to 2 more hands. First off, I get 77 and I raise, and I get no callers except for the BB, which is that Asian girl. She brings her cards up to her face, kinda giggles and says, "I NEED to see a flop". Flop comes J 3 2. She can't stop laughing, bets first, I'm forced to muck, and she flips over 33.

My last hand was A 3 in middle position. Flop comes 2 4 5 rainbow. Golden. I bet, there's a raise, 2 calls and me. Turn comes a goddamn 3, the worst card I could possibly see. 6 high straight sends me back home.

I noticed things that I have to change about my ring game playing. I'm used to too many tournaments and I was rusty in the beggining of my 12 hour stretch yesterday. Believe it or not, it's kind of a different game, and I know what I need to do to make myself a better player. No more 2/4 though, I think 4/8's a better game, but that's just me.

Ok, off to more SNG's on Party Poker. I have 3 Firsts in 2 days. Till next time....

-Gregg-

2004-04-07T12:56:00.000-04:00

Game in Selden last night...

Well, where do I start? I've been running into some unlucky cards lately, really bad beats, and fish who outdraw till the end of time. Usual Tuesday crowd last night, NL Hold 'Em but with a 20 person field, a little bigger than usual. I noticed some new faces, including a much older chap and some kids who couldn't have been older than 17. It smelled like Long John Silvers in there.

We had 3 tables (7,7,6) and I was seated at the small table with the older fellow, 2 EXTREMEMLY tight players, Erod (who has tightned up considerably lately) and a loose raising person. *side note-this last person was the person who in a previous game was raising with garbage to get out of the game because he was tired. He effectively dumped his chips to whoever called him, he had 10 7 offsuit so pretty much anybody beat him*

I couldn't hit a face card, and most of my cards were 6 2, 9 7, 10 3, etc. Even though the blinds were 5/10 and we started with 1000 in chips, I folded folded folded, only to find I hit monster flops 96% of the times I bailed. So, I played a couple hands with crap, hit 2 pair, and would get sucked out on river to a gutbuster straight. I chilled out again for a while. The older player hadn't really played hold 'em before and I instructed him when it was first time to deal. When I told him to burn one and turn one, he thought that each player got another card, or was exchanging one like 5 card draw or something. I thought he would be easy money.

Cut to Erod, raising UTG with pocket 10's, and everyone folding but the elder. Flop comes A 9 7, Erod bets, guy calls. Check the turn, check the river, old guy flips up pocket Q's and asks "Is this good?" hmmmm...

I found something in here to be a huge hole in the game in Selden. Well first off, no one understands the idea of a sizable raise. If the blinds are 5/10, why would you raise to 250 preflop and expect callers? That's a quarter of your stack just to see a flop, and the raiser picks up 15 to 25 in blinds. The huge hole, is with all the betting preflop and on the flop, the turn is almost ALWAYS checked, and the person who was ahead could have won the pot right there but instead gets rivered or outplayed when a flush or something hits.

Well, after 2 levels at this game, we switch tables. I lost 140 in chips at the first table and went in with 860 against a fish who had a HUGE chip lead, prolly around 3K. Luckily he was directly to my right, and was one of the more respectable players in the game, ironically. He actually wasn't a fish at all.

The most memorable hand of the whole tournament was at this table. Everyone folded to me and the BB, an extrememly tight player who check raises everything and puts you all in on every river if he's in. Knowing this, i called in the SB with KJ offsuit. BB checked and the flop comes A K 10. I bet 100 and he string bets all in. He puts the chip in reaches back and says "eh, I'm all in". I immediately looked at the leader of the game and said, "I'm pretty sure that's a string" and that's when all hell broke loose. Apparently, some other guy had been talking trash with the stringer, and it escalated into expletive laden outbursts. The stringer then insulted a woman there who turned out to be the guy's wife and poker turned almost turned into a fistfight.

Anyway, back to the hand. The string was ruled just a call, and thinking I was behind, I did my ol' "check before the card hits" check. The turn was a Q, and the board being a rainbow, it gave me the stone cold nuts. He looked at it pensively forever, and fingered his chips. I thought, if he had been willing to put me all in on the flop, why not do it now? After what seemed like a week, he checked and the worst possible card came on the river, a J. Now the board had a straight, and we split. I couldn't have been more pissed off if I tried, but it was my fault for checking blindly. He later told me he had a 10 on the flop.

With the blinds going up to 50/100, I had no choice but to sit back go all in and pray for a double up. I eventually went all in with K 10 in the big blind for about 400. The small blind called with QJ, and I was quite excited when the flop came 4 J K. Turn however was another J, and the river paired the 4, giving her a full house and me a seat on the couch. Overall, I was dissappointed with my play, but my lack of any decent starting hands had something to say about that too.

Erod ended up taking home the tournament, and I was quite impressed with some laydowns he made. Not typical Erod style at all, I give him kudos.

In other news, I came in 2nd in a $10 SNG before the Selden game, and was pleased with my ability to finish in the money, being a serious short stack 4 handed. I had pocket 8's and pushed all in and got called by QQ. Flop came 9 6 7, blank turn, and a magical 10 on the river, and I was right back in it. I made him go all in on his next blinds and outplayed the 3rd place player to finish 2nd. Till next time, Monteith, out!

2004-04-06T16:29:00.000-04:00

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